


This Pain I Gift You

by cedi



Series: These Things I Gift You [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-10
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:07:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 68,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23094550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cedi/pseuds/cedi
Summary: Remnant is a place full of mysteries, fraught with mortal perils and sinister plots.It is a good thing then that Ruby Rose is always ready to be the Hero of the moment, no matter what. Though this time she might have bitten of more than even she can chew. But how on Remnant could she have known that the real danger would come after she saved the damsel in distress?
Relationships: Neopolitan/Ruby Rose (RWBY)
Series: These Things I Gift You [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1795771
Comments: 193
Kudos: 173





	1. A Night Time Knight

**Author's Note:**

> So, I finally decided to branch out and write a RWBY fic.  
> Just a heads up: The idea for this one came to me in that odd phase between dreaming and waking, so I can promise you that the Explicit rating was chosen for a reason. Still, it will be more than just porn with a bit of plot.

The stars twinkled brightly in the dark sky above their shine unperturbed by the sun or the moon; the former having dipped below the city’s skyline a good long while ago and the later was little more than a thin sickle in the sky.

But few people were out and about at this hour to watch the spectacle unfolding above their heads as most of the citizens of Vale were safely resting in their warm beds behind solid, tightly locked doors; unwilling to brave the dangers of the night.

The quite of the night was only broken by the faint footsteps of a singular person strolling down the dark streets, the figure’s head lowered in thought and most of her face hidden behind the hood of her oversized, red cloak. The girl’s inattention to her surroundings, especially these surroundings at the current late hour, would be a foolish mistake for most, maybe even the last one they would ever make, but Ruby Rose was anything but helpless. To her the common hoodlums and muggers roaming the streets posed little threat.

Her kind had nothing to fear from them, and even if it weren’t for her nature the fact that she just graduated from Signal Academy would ensure that she could take down anything the nights within the city could throw at her.

Ruby’s head suddenly perked up as she noticed a noise coming from the next alleyway over, the sudden motion revealing a pair of blazing silver eyes that shone with a light of their own bright enough to challenge the stars above her head.

“Freaks like you are not welcome here,” a rough voice growled angrily, the man’s voice barely able to contain his aggression. The words were quickly followed by the dull sound of flesh meeting flesh and a muffled groan.

“You think your tough, eh?” He taunted as he continued his assault. “Don’t worry, we just got started.”

Ruby quietly pulled Crescent Rose from its place at small of her back, though she kept the huge war scythe in its folded form. There was still a chance to break this up without resorting to the deadly weapon; also unfolding it wasn’t exactly quiet.

She silently stalked up on her prey and peeked around the corner of the rundown house forming one of the dark alley’s cornerstones. What she saw sent her blood pressure spiking.

The dark path between the buildings wasn’t an alley at all, instead the small path ended in a dead end after a scant few meters. It was little more than a recess for a bunch of large garbage containers, which took up most of the open space. Though the containers weren’t placed completely flush with the dirty cinderblock walls, leaving a small cubbyhole right at the very end of the cul-de-sac that was currently filled with the cowering form of a young woman.

Ruby couldn’t recognize much more than the girl’s gender as the stout forms of two rough looking guys blocked most of her from Ruby’s view. But even from the little she was able to discern the situation was plainly obvious to the trained fighter in her. Both guys’ stances screamed of aggression and barely contained rage, their shoulders bunched, and fists clenched.

And the girl… Her emotions where just as clear to Ruby, even if it weren’t for her particular brand of senses. She was huddled in her foul corner with her arms folded in front of her face, her upper body turned to the side as if to protect her chest and belly from the fists of her attackers. And even though she was clearly in pain, she made barely any noise at all for some strange reason, like she was afraid of raising attention from the houses bordering the scene.

The guy in front raised his fist in preparation for another punch and Ruby saw red; her plan for a nonviolent confrontation completely forgotten. She surged forwards with her beloved weapon in hand, closing the three, four meters between her and the man in the back in the blink of an eye and slammed the heavy, collapsed weapon into the back of the nearest thug’s knee. The surprise attack was as effective as she had hoped and sent the guy down onto one knee, bringing his head in range of her follow up move.

She pulled her next punch as she didn’t want to brain the guy, though even with that precaution the hit sent him sprawling on the nasty floor. The man let out a low groan but didn’t attempt to get back up.

The second thug whirled around alerted by the noise and stared first at his downed friend, then at Ruby. At seeing her small stature, the shock on his face morphed to derision. “You’re going to pay for that, bitch!” He roared and advanced on her, ready to teach the girl a lesson. He ignored the chunk of metal in her hands, trash she had probably picked up at the mouth of the alley and squared his shoulders. He would sidestep her first clumsy swing and then just overwhelm her with his superior strength; the girl wouldn’t get a second lucky hit.

In his blind anger he forgot all about his first victim.

But the girl didn’t forget about him. She lunged forwards out of her little cubbyhole and wrapped her arms around his supporting leg and wrenched it around with all the strength her waifish frame could muster. The power she unleashed was barely enough to stagger the thug. It was fortuitous for her then that the guy was just about to step over his felled friend, putting him into an awkward position. He threw himself forward in a desperate bid to stop himself from crashing into the large garbage bins set against the wall. His move might even have worked out if it weren’t for the still prone form of his friend. His foot caught on the poor guy and he was sent flying right into the raising uppercut of one Ruby Rose.

Once the last attacker was dealt with Ruby hurried over to the young woman she had just saved, careful not to stand on any fingers. She wasn’t too worried about their wellbeing, seeing as they had ganged up on the girl, but because she didn’t want to be accused of torture. Not a good look for one like her. She enjoyed the city well enough and would hate to be chased out by a pitchfork wielding mob. Also, it would worry her father.

“Can you stand?” Ruby fretted as she offered a hand to the girl she just saved. Her action was rewarded by a nod and a small smile that shone through from below her multicoloured bangs. The stranger grasped the proffered hand and let herself be pulled to her feet.

It worried Ruby how little she had to tap into her reservoir of strength to do so.

“Soo… What’s your name? I’m Ruby.”

The girl didn’t answer her question instead she just stared at her disconcertingly from heterochrome eyes. After a few heartbeats her smile widened a tad and she turned Ruby’s hand around to reveal the inside of her palm. She slid her fingers out of Ruby’s grasp and placed her index finger at the centre of it.

Before Ruby could ask about her strange behaviour, she applied a gentle pressure and traced the letter ‘N’ into her soft flesh with a ragged nail. Ruby looked up from her hand and watched the girl’s cutely crunched nose as she quickly followed up the first letter with an ‘E’ and an ‘O’.

“N-E-O,” Ruby spelled out, “That’s your name?”

Neo nodded, happy that her saviour had gotten it in one.

“Nice to meet you, Neo,” Ruby said as she slowly and ever so gently took a hold of Neo’s hand, giving her ample opportunity to pull away. To Ruby’s satisfaction she didn’t. Instead Neo met her midway and answered her gesture with a short, reassuring press from her own hand.

Hand in hand Ruby guided her back over the felled thugs to the entrance of the dead-end alley where there was at least some light creeping in from the weakly illuminated street.

“How badly are you hurt?” Ruby asked there unsure of how long the altercation had lasted for before she had arrived.

Neo made a see-saw gesture with her free hand and then tapped the corner of her smirk with a singular finger.

“Duh,” Ruby facepalmed, “You can’t talk, obviously.” So, she had to take a different approach. Luckily Neo’s hand signal had given her an idea.

“Okay, Charades it is.” Ruby tilted her head as she tried to remember how that little emergency aid acronym went that was taught at Signal. Damn, she shook her head, she had forgotten it, though in her defence there had been surprisingly little need for it at the combat school.

“Okay, are you bleeding?” Ruby finally asked, thinking that this was the most pressing issue in this situation.

Neo simply shook her head, a faintly amused smile solidly in place on her face.

“Good, good,” Ruby nodded her head, “can you walk?”

Neo’s smile morphed into a smirk as she turned her head back the way they came, looking between the guys at the back and Ruby. She raised an eyebrow as if to ask “Really?”.

Some red appeared on Ruby’s face. “Stupid question, Ruby!” she muttered quietly. Though before her thoughts could spiral into something darker Neo patted her on the shoulder with a soft look in her eyes, then she motioned for her to continue.

But Ruby didn’t as she hadn’t even the tiniest glimmer how to. She had always dreamed of a moment like this where she could be the gallivant hero who was saving a damsel in distress. She had envisioned herself as a knight in shiny armour dozens, if not hundreds of times as a child. She had built elaborate fantasies of how she would be called upon by a good, magnanimous King, or a humble villager to save a princess or slay a horrible creature of Grimm. When she had gotten older her dreams had changed, although their core remained true, no longer was she a knight but a policewoman, a firefighter or even one of the lauded Huntsmen saving everyday people.

And while she had envisioned hundreds of different scenarios and how she would deal with every single one of these crises she had never thought about what came after the curtains fell on the hero.

Now, she found herself without an idea of how to handle this.

So, she turned back to her most trusted source of information, her scroll. She pulled the device from a self-sewed pocket in her beloved weapon’s holster and turned it on with a well-practiced motion.

“I think there is a small clinic somewhere close by. We can get you checked out there.” She stated after typing for a moment.

She felt a pull on her hand and looked up from her scroll at a frowning Neo. When their eyes met the other girl shook her head no, clearly against the idea.

“But you could be seriously hurt. You could be bleeding internally!” Ruby stated forcefully, hoping to convince the girl to do the right thing, even if Ruby would agree that going to the doctors was rather bothersome.

But Neo just shook her head with even more vigour.

“Please,” Ruby begged, “I-I know that you are in pain.” She dearly hoped that Neo would relent as she really did know that the other woman was suffering, and for her there was no guesswork involved. It was a fact that she knew as surely as she knew that Neo’s hair was of two colours, or that the sun would rise in the morning.

To her dismay Neo just tilted her head to the side and stared at her, her beautiful two-coloured eyes posing an unvoiced question.

Ruby sighed tiredly, “Look, I just know that you are hurt. I…Its complicated. Just…Please come with me to the clinic?” She eyed Neo hopefully, though all the while wondering what she would do if the girl still refused. Every voice inside of her screamed against just letting her walk into the night like this. It wouldn’t be the heroic thing to do, she told herself, it had nothing to do with Neo’s pretty eyes, or that she hadn’t fed in a while.

Neo scrutinized her for a moment, already prepared to shut the helpful stranger down but then changed her mind. Instead of shaking her head again she went for Ruby’s scroll. The action caught Ruby by complete surprise and so she gave her second most prized possession up without any fight. The spidery cracks of the screen felt rough against her fingers as it slid away.

Neo flipped the scroll over in her hand and rapidly moved through the scroll’s menus, her hands only stilled once she found the app she was looking for. A large textbox popped open followed by the virtual keyboard a heartbeat later.

“Don’t worry. Not first time. Heal fast.” The scroll suddenly spoke in an announcer’s emotionless voice.

In Ruby’s humble opinion the voice didn’t fit Neo at all. Though she couldn’t really say what she would expect the other woman to sound like.

“Oh,” she uttered as she snapped back to the matter, or words, at hand. She got hurt before. That didn’t sit well with Ruby. She eyed Neo, wondering how someone could harm the young woman.

“Yes. So, no hospital!”

Neo met her gaze with hard eyes that seemed to belong to someone twice her age. Ruby floundered as she came to the realisation that she didn’t stand a chance. There was no way she could convince Neo now.

But Ruby Rose wasn’t one to give up just because one door closed. If she couldn’t get Neo to a doctor, then the least she could do was to make sure to get her home save. Maybe her parents would have more luck at convincing her to take care of herself. Heh, if they were anything like Tai then Neo would be sitting in the emergency room before she could type out a rebuke.

Happy with her new plan of attack she grinned at Neo, hoping that her nefarious plan wasn’t too visible on her face. Although her hopes seemed to be in vain if Neo’s wary look was of any indication.

“Soo… Okay no doctors,” Ruby agreed slowly, receiving a quick press of fingers as thanks, “Buuut… Please let me escort you home.” Neo’s wary expression deepened, sparking a minor panic in Ruby’s head. Offering to bring another girl home wasn’t that strange, was it? The girl was attacked just moments ago for dust’s sake. Any sane, compassionate person would offer the same, right? Right!

“I-it w-would really make me feel better, knowing that you are save and sound.” She followed up, her voice gaining traction after a stuttering start.

Her worry melted the dark expression from Neo’s face and replaced it with something far softer, something oddly vulnerable. She tapped on the keyboard, faltering several times before she settled on a short, simple message.

“Can’t. No home.”

Ruby gasped as the words struck at the very centre of her soft heart. How could that be. How could this young, pretty woman be all alone in this world. Just… How? After a moment’s hesitation Ruby allowed herself for the first time to really take Neo’s appearance in. She almost sobbed when the truth in her words became plainly visible in the form of simple clothes that were dirtied and threadbare, and a body that was just a few missed meals away from being called malnourished.

It was a real testament to Neo’s power of will that she managed to even stagger her attacker.

“Too late. Shelters full.” Neo toed the cracked paving with her worn out sneakers. She pointed at the back of the alley with Ruby’s scroll, “Sleep.”

“Oh god,” Ruby slapped her hand over her mouth and followed Neo’s outstretched hand, taking in the foul spot between the rows of dumpsters. There was no way… She looked down at Neo expecting a small smirk or some other sign of humour but found only a grim expression.

“You’re coming with me,” She blurted out from behind splayed fingers. Her thoughtless words sent Neo scrambling away from her as her face turned into a mask of fear. But after only a few hastened steps she winced and stumbled off track, one hand going to her side.

“I’msorryI’msorryI’msorry,” Ruby shouted panicky, just now realising how those words had to sound to a girl living on the streets. She stormed after Neo and just caught herself moments before laying a hand on her. Instead she raised them into the air in surrender and displayed her empty hands to the scared girl.

“I didn’t mean it like a creepy old man!” Ruby shouted unconcerned with the fact that she probably just woke the entire neighbourhood, “I live not far from here and I just really don’t like the thought of you sleeping out on the streets.” She willed her face to show the sincerest expression of genuine compassion it had ever mustered and held it for the longest minute of her life as every fibre of her being prayed for Neo to believe her.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity to Ruby, Neo’s fearful expression gradually drained from her face until only utter exhaustion remained.

After another moment Neo sluggishly moved her head up and down in a mechanical rendition of a nod.

“K.”


	2. No Rest for the Wicked

Ruby coaxed Neo to take her hand, which she did with a fair amount of trepidation, and then guided her onwards down the dimly lit road. She kept her grip loose to signal to the anxious girl that she could pull away at any time and even made sure only to glance at Neo every other step.

“Soo…” Ruby began after the silence between them became to oppressive for her, “what did they want from you.” She winced the moment those words had made it past her lips. Damn her stupid blabbermouth! She really needed to heed Weiss’ repeated advice and start thinking before talking.

She watched Neo apprehensively, worrying her lip and hoping that she didn’t just scare the poor girl even more. As if reading her fretful mind Neo faced her for the first time since they had started their trek home and shot her a crooked grin.

“Bad day. See hair. Eyes. See Fae. See Victim.” Ruby’s scroll dictated haltingly, then Neo shrugged moving their clasped hands a bit.

Ruby squeezed her hand and looked away as she felt her teeth grinding. There was little that could disrupt her chipper disposition as she understood the darker side of mankind: thievery, greed, anger and jealousy were no strangers, but bigotry, that was something completely foreign to her. She simply couldn’t grasp how someone could hurt strangers on the streets just because they were a bit different. It wasn’t like they were Grimm for Dust’s sake, even if some would gladly liken Fae as such. Fortunately, the prejudice against the Fae was slowly going out of style. Heck, calling them Grimmborn was now mostly frowned upon in public, moreover a rising number of people started to call them by the politically correct ‘Fae’ instead of the antiquated ‘Others’. A change that Ruby especially supported because she had always found ‘Others’ to be rather exclusionary, as if they were aliens intruding on these human lands.

Ruby yelped in surprise when she was suddenly pulled off-balance by Neo, who, for some strange reason, had surged forwards doing a hop and skip. After a moment her training kicked in and she managed to find her footing again. She even managed to turn the table on Neo, dashing past her and forcing her into a pirouette. A laugh bubbled forth as Ruby watched Neo’s long, twirling hair turn into a pink and brown halo; her earlier worries all but forgotten.

The outburst of mirth turned into a dismayed gasp a moment later when Neo stumbled sideward on unsteady legs, her right hand grasping at her sore flank while the other one slipped from Ruby’s loosening grip.

Time seemed to slow down for Ruby as Neo’s foot missed the curb of the sidewalk and found only empty space. Ruby’s left arm blurred forward, quickly followed by the rest of her body. She hastily weaved past Neo’s flailing arms and wrapped herself around Neo’s tiny waist, pulling the smaller girl flush against her, steadying her moments before she would have crashed onto the cracked road.

The pair stared at each other for a few beats with eyes wide from shock and fear, then Neo’s gaze slipped off her and followed a red rose petal’s meandering path down to their booted feet. Her eyes remained fixed until it crumbled into dust and was carried away by a soft breeze.

“My hero,” The loaned scroll suddenly deadpanned from behind Ruby.

Ruby peeked over her own shoulder in the hopes of catching a glimpse of her scroll, just to make sure it was still in mostly one piece, but Neo’s hands were empty. She pulled a bit further away from Neo and scanned the ground with her eyes but found nothing larger than a pebble. She swivelled back up and gaped at the other girl in wonder, “how did you…?”

Neo merely squirmed free of Ruby’s embrace and stepped back with a wiggle of her eyebrows, then she turned away and waved for her to hurry up. At the tail-end of the motion a flash of light drew Ruby’s attention down to Neo’s bottom where the very top of her scroll just peeked out from the back pocket of Neo’s distressed black pants.

How it had gotten there was a complete mystery to Ruby.

She shook her head and hurried after Neo, they had to turn off this road quite soon.

The pair reached Ruby’s home after twenty minutes, twice as long as it took Ruby to get to the alley in the first place. Neo had slowed down noticeable during their walk as her injuries took their toll on her already weakened body and Ruby had been unwilling to hurry the poor girl along. The few minutes they could have saved didn’t matter anyway, they had crossed into a better neighbourhood a while ago and that had been Ruby’s only real concern.

Not that she had been afraid of another confrontation, she merely wanted to spare Neo another harrowing experience.

“This is it,” Ruby pointed out a large apartment building and slid past Neo. She fumbled with Crescent Rose’s harness for a bit until she uncovered the apartment key with an exuberant ‘HA!’. She ignored Neo’s very expressive eyeroll, unlocked the door and let go of the key. She grinned wildly as the retractable tether promptly dragged the key back to its hiding place.

It might look silly but ever since she added that feature, she had never lost her keys again. It was only a question of time before people would break down her door to get in on that spark of genius.

She opened the door wide and waved for Neo to follow her down the dark corridor, scooting past the elevator doors with an apologetic, “Hasn’t worked in forever,” and headed for the stairs. There, Ruby stopped and surveyed them with a dark look.

They had to climb all the way to the top.

A heartbeat later Neo joined her, mirroring her expression.

“Carry me?” She shot Ruby a hopeful look.

Shrugging, Ruby bent down and slung one of her arms under Neo’s knees and placed the other one at her back, then she lifted her unceremoniously into the air, eliciting a surprised grunt from Neo.

She climbed the stairs easily, the smaller girl barely straining her toned muscle and deposited her carefully in front of her apartment’s entrance. She hesitated for a moment, worrying her lip with her teeth while she tried to remember the state she had left her apartment in. She was quite certain that she had cleaned everything for Yang’s visit, and that wasn’t that long ago, right?

Ruby sighed, there was nothing she could do about it now. That was all the push she needed to move past her apprehension and unlock the door. She studied the room beyond with unbiased eyes and winced. Her living room-slash-kitchen-slash-office was a complete mess. In the tiny kitchenette a towering heap of dirty dishes was one stiff breeze away from its lifelong dream of becoming an avalanche while most of the living space was currently experiencing an invasion of containers of all kinds with only a few chocolaty crumbs telling of their previous contents. In the struggle against the mighty Double Chocolate Chip Cookie vast regions of the room were mined with the sharp-edged tools, screws and metal fragments she used to tune her beloved Crescent Rose. And as if that wasn’t enough, clothes were strewn all around in a poor attempt to hide the atrocities that took place here; even her sleeping shorts had somehow found their way to this battlefield.

Ruby shrunk deeper into the embrace of her red cloak with each new disgusting thing she discovered. She wouldn’t be surprised if Neo simply turned around and walked out in search of a nice, little dumpster to sleep in.

“Neat,” The scroll said in passing as Neo slipped past a Dust-shocked Ruby. She took a moment to take it all in and then fixed Ruby with an easy grin, “You live here alone?”

“Yes,” Ruby mumbled, her voice muffled by the thick fabric of the cloak that she had pulled up all the way to her nose. Her face adopted the colour of her garment when she realised how she must look. She dropped the cloak as if the red fabric had burned her and instead busied her hands by rubbing at the back of her neck. “Is it that obvious?”

For a moment it looked like Neo was going to nod, her head already tilting down a bit, but then she see-sawed her head from side to side. “I wouldn’t know.” She tapped out on the scroll and walked further into the room. She nimbly stepped over all the little traps in her path as she made her way to the couch pushed against the wall below the window. Once there, she slowly gathered all the trash and little knickknacks occupying the seat and placed them carefully on the end table. With that done Neo plopped down on the soft cushions and stretched out, revealing plenty of thin skin stretched over protruding bones.

She held the pose for a moment and then collapsed inwards and curled up tightly like a cat. She rocked from side to side for a moment in an attempted to get more comfortable, when that didn’t miraculously resolve the issue she huffed and dug in her pant’s pocket for Ruby’s scroll. With a wink in Ruby’s direction, who was still frozen to the spot next to the open door, she placed the scroll down on the little wooden ledge below the window and loosened the piece of black fabric holding her pants closed.

The knot yielded easily to her nimble fingers and she nonchalantly shrugged the pants off, shoved them away to join Ruby’s clothes on the floor and wriggled into a more comfortable position. She let out a content sigh and closed her eyes, her breath evening out after only a few moments.

A few second of stunned silence followed before Ruby finally closed the door and moved into the middle of the room, unable to believe what had just happened. Neo had been so fearful at first, back at the alley, and now she had fallen asleep in moments in a stranger’s house? Almost naked at that? Ruby shook her head hardly believing her own eyes.

She took another step in Neo’s direction and sighed in relieve when she saw a pair of washed out boxers peeking out from below the rim of Neo’s threadbare shirt; at least she wouldn’t have to worry about accidentally catching an eyeful of her surprise houseguest.

Her gaze slipped lower, following the curve of Neo’s thigh. What she saw deepened the frown on her face. Neo was barely more than skin and bones. She turned away from the girl, vowing to offer her a big breakfast tomorrow that was replete with lots and lots of sugar and fat, and quietly flitted over to her bedroom. Moments later Ruby resurfaced with arms full of a velvety blanket smelling weakly of a flowery detergent.

She covered Neo gently with the warm blanked, her movements slow and hesitant as she tucked the girl in, prying to the maidens that she wouldn’t wake Neo from her healing slumber. She stepped back and assessed her handywork. Ruby nodded to herself when she saw that not so much as a toe peeked out from under the blanked and made for her own room, on her way there she diverted to the entrance of the flat, latched it but left the key in the lock.

At the door to her own room she stopped one last time, looked over her shoulder, smiled at the sleeping Neo and whispered, “Goodnight, Neo.” Then the door fell closed behind her retreating form.

A quarter of an hour after the last shuffling noise died away from behind the bedroom door the Neo sleeping on the couch shattered into a thousand pieces, leaving the soft blanket to slowly deflate, filling the sudden void. At the same time a different, pants-clad Neo appeared by the kitchenette coolly twirling a big knife in her hand.

After a few more minutes her thoughtful demeanour washed of her and a soft smile bloomed on her exhaustion marked face. She placed the knife back in the sink between the red stained cutting board and a bunch of dirtied mugs, then pushed off the kitchen counter with a soft, pained groan. She stumbled to the couch all the while stripping of her pants and slithered under the tucked in covers, replacing the shattered illusion with the real thing.

The next morning found Ruby sleeping soundly on her large, soft bed with one of her bare legs wrapped around her bunched up, red covers while the other one drooped slightly off the side of her mattress. She had fallen asleep quickly last night, used to late Friday evenings as she usually tinkered deep into the night on some pet project or other, and frequently treated herself to a bit of a lie-in the following morning.

Today, though, she would have to live without the extra sleep.

A dull bang shook her flat around nine in the morning. The impact was more felt than heard but it still effectively shook the sleep from her bones and sent poor Ruby literally flying to her feet. She swivelled her head around like a manic pixie to pinpoint the origin of the threat, her body almost hidden behind a shower of rose petals. After a dozen rapid heartbeats, she relaxed realising that no ghastly creature was rushing down on her, stepped of her bed and almost stumbled over the pillow she had thrown to the floor sometimes during the night.

She heard another softer bang coming from her living room followed by a muffled grunt and the quiet notes of a familiar melody. Ruby’s eyes went wide with sudden realisation and she hastily dashed for the door. She wrenched it open barely a second later, gasping at the tableau before her. Neo was laying on the ground amidst the mess of clothes, tools and empty cookie containers completely tangled in her soft blanket, snarling and growling while struggling to get free. Above her, on the ledge below the window, Ruby’s scroll was lit up by the clock app that was currently busy blaring her favourite song on the scroll’s highest volume.

Ruby groaned into her hand; it had completely slipped her that she had set up the scroll’s alarm clock to wake her at nine o’clock shortly before she had left for a calming walk through the neighbourhood yesterday evening.

She had planned to get up this early to check out the campus’ arena and buy some essentials she needed for the new year.

“Shit,” she breathed, she had to meet with Yang in about two hours. Her sister had promised to show her around the university’s combat facility now that she finally had completed the preliminaries and could take combat classes. She glanced at Neo who had managed to free her hands and wondered what she was going to tell Yang.

She groaned; her sister was going to rip her head clean off when she heard about the stray that she took in. Sadly, fibbing was out of the question as she couldn’t lie to save her life, literally.

She braced her shoulders and went to help Neo free herself from her cruel, velvety prison. She’d have to send her sister a message later, once she had dealt with this situation, heck, maybe Neo could think of something to write.


	3. What A Happy Coincidence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that it took me so long to continue this, but I had to acclimatize to the new normal first. Updates should now be a tad bit more regular.

“Full.” The scroll piped up, giving voice to Neo’s vehement head shake.

The blanket incident had been resolved swiftly after Ruby had stepped in; well versed in all kinds of fabric related mishaps as she was and Neo had lost her deep, dark frown momentarily once Ruby made good on her promise from last night and turned into a breakfast preparing tornado. She had watched baffled from her perch on the couch as Ruby somehow prepared a good two dozen chocolate chip pancakes while also finding the time to clean most of the living room and set the dinner table.

While the red streaked storm had raged through the small room she hadn’t dared to step a single toe off her island of calm, even though her bladder had alerted her to a rather pressing matter, too afraid that she would just get swept away by Ruby never to be seen again.

“Really? But there is still some batter left!” Ruby wheedled, eying the girl on the other side of the table, “It is no bother at all!”

The headshake turned a touch frantic as Neo’s hands flew again for the scroll resting a safe distance from her tableware, her fingers dancing nimbly over the virtual keyboard. After a final, forceful stab the device finally spat out: “No feeding kink!!!”

Neo used Ruby’s ensuing confusion to slip away from the table, race past the stunned girl and escape to the bathroom, hopping that Ruby would have given up by the time she took care of business.

In the bathroom she leant against the comfortingly thick door for a moment, catching her breath. She tilted her head confused and, after a moment, took a quick sniff of her clothes, recoiling immediately.

Okay, maybe a shower wouldn’t hurt either.

Ruby just sat and watched her go, wondering if she may have overdone it by a tinsy, tiny bit, but Neo was just so thin. “No matter,” she breathed, pushing her doubts forcefully from her mind and rose from her chair, busying herself with cleaning the kitchen while water started to patter softly in the background.

A while later the water shut off and Neo stepped out of the cramped bathroom wrapped in a pair of towels, her old clothes held as far away from herself as humanly possible. She dropped them into a stinking pile by the door and rapidly tapped out a message for her host. “Got clothes?” She pointed to the heap on the floor and explained, “Reek.”

Ruby looked her over, scratching her head in thought. She wasn’t good with sizes, that was more Weiss’ forte, but she had experienced a growth spurt not long ago and some of the clothes from before that might fit the smaller woman.

“Maybe, give me a sec.” She beelined for her room and slipped through the door, opening it only as little as necessary to fit through. Neo really didn’t need to see the wobbly stacks of refuse and random items she’d built in here during her cleaning spree. After a bit of rummaging she found what she had been looking for: her favourite black and red shirt that she didn’t have the heart to throw away when it became to small for her to wear, a sports bra that shrunk in the wash and a daringly short, bright red wrap-around skirt that Yang had gotten her for clubbing. It was brand new as she had never found the guts to wear it. She just didn’t feel comfortable wearing it the one time she tried it on behind locked doors, alone, at night, blinds drawn and with the lights off. Luckily Neo was a fair bit shorter than her, so she could probably wear it without exposing herself to the world.

She eyed her underwear drawer for a moment, but then decided against it. All the running she did while lugging Crescent Rose around had done wonderous things to her backside and thighs, there was no way in heaven that anything from the drawer would fit the wiry girl.

She dumped the clothes in Neo’s arms, “Try these, they might fit. Though I don’t have any panties in your size,” she pointed at her butt with a bashful smile to indicate the problem, “sorry.”

Neo leaned past her and studied her ass intently for a few moments as if to verify her claims; Neo’s playfulness sent a massive blush crawling over Ruby’s chest and face that had absolutely nothing to do with the way her towel slipped. Luckily Neo kept it up for only a few short moments before she straightened back out and turned around, returning to the bathroom with a serious nod and almost imperceptible wiggle of her ass.

By the time the door finally closed behind the mischievously grinning girl Ruby felt like she could combust any moment now. She brushed through her hair with jittery fingers as images of creamy white thigh replayed in her mind’s eye intermixed with flashes of intensely staring pink and brown eyes. The way they had looked at her… Ruby pondered, fingers still massaging her scalp, it was almost the same look she usually had on her face when Yang pulled a backing tray of fresh cookies from the oven.

It was almost as if Neo was interest in her…

“Argh!” she hissed and wrenched her thoughts of course, her eyes roaming the room for something to distract herself from her rampaging hormones. “No Ruby, the homeless girl that was just attacked by hoodlums and that you took in is not crushing on you! No perving on the damsel in distress! Bad Ruby!”

She flashed over to the hooks by the entrance and slipped on her weapon harness, quickly checking her integrated wallet, grinning at what she found. She’d go clothes shopping with Neo, the girl really needed some and the fresh air would do them both a world of good.

Neo joined her a minute later, wearing the clothes she had gotten her. They looked surprisingly good on the diminutive woman. The shirt was a bit to big for her, though the way she carried it made it look more like a style choice than anything else. And while the skirt was still rather short, reaching only a bit further than halfway to her knees, it was nowhere as scandalous as it would have been on Ruby.

She fluffed her hair a bit, then focused on Ruby. Her face drew into a confused frown and one hand went for her scroll, but before she managed to tug it free from the insanely tiny pocket Ruby caught on to her.

“I thought we could buy you some more clothes,” Ruby explained, her lips drawn into a wide, childlike smile, “My treat.” She waved a bunch of Lien cards around. “I’m loaded right now, my friend never lets me pay for anything,” She pouted.

She opened the door and tentatively took Neo’s hand, barely remembering not to be her exuberant, touchy-feely self around Neo, at least for a while. She guided Neo out of her flat and was just about to close the door when her eyes where caught by a bit of colourful fabric lying on top of a small pile of clothes.

She narrowed her eyes, trying to sharpen her vision, were those Neo’s boxers? She glanced over her shoulder and followed her outstretched arm down to the end of the landing where Neo was standing, smiling sunnily at her.

She gulped and closed the door; at least now she knew what shop they’d hit first.

Ruby squinted her eyes at the sudden, glaring sunlight as they stepped out on the street, momentarily disoriented. Although autumn was fast approaching, she hadn’t yet noticed much of it. Yes, the night’s air carried a chilly touch sometimes, but during the day it was still warm enough to warrant short sleeves and maybe even a touch of sunscreen.

She unfolded a pair of darkened combat glasses and pushed them onto her nose. They weren’t the most stylish thing in the world, Weiss loved to rag on them, but they kept her sensitive silver eyes save.

Also, she always thought that they gave her appearance a certain fierceness that her soft eyes always lacked.

“Let’s walk, it isn’t to far.” Ruby suggested with a sidelong glance at Neo. The girl nodded and waved for her to lead the way.

“Soo…” Ruby started in her trademark way, offering Neo a chance to cut her off if she had something better to offer, “I’ll need my scroll later for a tick. I need to cancel some plans I made with my sister for today.”

Neo merely shrugged and dug for the scroll, handing it over after a brief struggle with the tiny pocket, then watched her expectantly.

“Eh… I don’t really know what to tell her.” She said helplessly, “she can be a bit… overprotective of me at times.” Which put it mildly, for a time Ruby’s classmate had been afraid of sparring with her, fearing the painful retribution Yang would dish out if they went in a bit to hard and left a mark. It had taken an intervention from her and Tai for it to stop.

“D-do you maybe have an idea?” She asked lamely, a light dusting of pink appearing on her cheeks.

Neo rolled her eyes and snatched the scroll from Ruby’s limp hand. She swiftly navigated through the apps and rapidly hammered out a quick message. She slipped it back into her skirt’s infinitesimal pocket before Ruby managed so much as a squeak.

“What did you write?” Ruby asked franticly, but Neo just grinned toothily at her and continued walking, ignoring all of Ruby’s further attempts at wheedling something out of her.

She gave up on receiving an answer from the mute girl by the time they arrived at their destination, a small shopping mall situated just on the boundary between the university district and the downtown area. The place catered mainly to the countless students calling the university grounds their home and therefore sported a bit of everything. Hell, besides coffee, clothes and food you could even find weapon parts and munitions, which made it one of Ruby’s favourite places to while away the day.

Though today they wouldn’t make a stop there, even if it caused Ruby almost physical pain to just walk past the small shop.

“So… What style do you like? Ruby asked, walking backwards into the store, arms spread in a wide gesture,” Sorry!” she excused a moment later as she nearly brained another woman with her outstretched arm. She ducked her head at Neo’s mirthful smile and a faint blush appeared on her face.

“Don’t care. You pay, you decide.” Neo answered after a moment, giving the reddening Ruby an excuse to turn away and survey the shop.

An hour later found the pair sitting outside a small café, sipping on a cold beverage under the shade of a colourful parasol, bags of clothes scattered around its concrete foot. Shopping with Neo had been surprisingly enjoyable. The young woman was easy to please and happy with almost everything Ruby had suggested. Though the best thing about doing this with her was that Neo actually listened to her advise, unlike some of her other friends.

Not that they ignored her opinions! It was just… Sometimes they seemed to have a hard time seeing past the age difference.

She shook her head imperceptibly.

Neo on the other hand always listened when she offered advise on the best, most durable materials or dissuaded her away from a shirt because of its weak stitching. She smiled into her drink at the memory of how extremely eager Neo had been for all those titbits of knowledge she offered up.

A moment later the smile turned into a frown as she realised that her homelessness was the most likely reason for wanting durable stuff.

There had to be something she could do about that!

“Thinking?” Ruby’s scroll suddenly asked, breaking her free from her thoughts. Ruby lifted her head and met the Neo’s inquisitive eyes. She shook her head, “Nothing important,” and quickly drained her glass, “Let’s go back?” She asked absentmindedly, already wondering if she could ask Weiss for a huge favour.

The walk back was quiet with Ruby caught up in her own thoughts and Neo’s hands laden with bags stuffed to the brim with affordable clothes

So, both jumped when suddenly words were directed at them.

“Good day, Miss Rose,” the middle-aged man greeted the pair, “How fortunate to meet you here,” he added with a polite smile, the corners of his eyes visibly crinkling around the rim of his tiny glasses.

“Headmaster Ozpin,” Ruby gasped, almost faceplanting as her extensively trained reflexes kicked in in the form of a pirouette. She quickly recovered from her misstep and pushed a strand of red tipped hair from her face, eyes firmly on the well-dressed man before her.

“What the f… Hello, Sir!” She said, interrupting herself before her motormouth could dig her an even deeper hole. “How can I help you?”

Ozpin just chuckled at her antics and gestured for her to slow down with the hand that didn’t grasp the handle of his ornate walking stick. “Nothing that can’t wait for an introduction,” he twitched his cane in Neo’s direction, “who’s your lovely companion?”

“This is Neo,” Ruby quickly jumped in as Neo struggled with her baggage, “She can’t talk.”

“Oh,” Ozpin said, as his eyes took in the girl’s appearance, his brows raising with every additional detail his scrutinizing gaze made out. “You don’t say…”

“Miss Neo…?” Ozpin asked slowly, waiting for her tentative nod before he continued, “Do I assume correctly when I say that you aren’t currently enrolled at any university?”

His words garnered him a suspicious glare from Neo, completely unsure what the guy’s endgame was. She kept it up for a few heartbeats but finally relented when she noticed the frantic movement of Ruby’s eyes.

She nodded imperceptibly.

“Can I further assume that you are not aware that Beacon Academy offers scholarships to students with… hmm… special needs?” He inquired, his polite smile never wavering, “Scholarships that, sadly enough, see sparsely any use?”

Neo shook her head again, this time with a bit more force. She had never really considered higher education, there had always been more pressing matters.

“If you are interested, please make an appointment with my office. It isn’t too late to enrol in this year’s classes. Even if it is cutting it a bit close.” He said, his smile growing ever wider, ending in a self-satisfied smirk that rubbed Neo entirely the wrong way.

She glanced over at the exuberantly grinning Ruby, her expression growing thoughtful. Still… though. His offer might be worth some consideration.

“Now then,” Ozpin addressed Ruby, his words wiping the wide grin right off her face, “I saw that you completed the preliminaries and signed up for combat classes?”

“Yes, sir,” Ruby answered his question, looking calm on the outside but internally screaming as the thing she had feared most ever since she had sent off her course selection finally arrived. He was going to deny her attendance of the combat courses.

“Now, I’d like to make an appointment with you to discuss that choice with you.” He shot Neo a quick sideward glance and continued as if she wasn’t there, “I’m a bit concerned about you and your classmates safety during combat considering your… dietary needs and the fact that you are half-starved most of the time.”

His words sent her reeling backwards as her flat expression succumbed to utter dismay. When she realised that it was the same old story that had her sitting on the side-lines for most combat practices and excluded her from all tournaments all over again.

Ruby squeezed her burning eyes shut, trying to prevent tears of bitter disappointment from sneaking past.

She had hoped that Beacon would be different, more open-minded. Alas, they were still a school and had to concern themselves with the irrational fears and worries of parents and students.

“My apologies, Miss Rose, I did not mean to imply that you were barred from taking part of these classes.” The headmaster apologised after a moment, his hands firmly planted on the pommel of his cane, giving off a sombre vibe. He winced slightly as Ruby focused him with watery but hopeful eyes. “We just have to find a way for you to feed regularly without causing you any additional distress.” Ruby’s head fell again as she realised what that meant. She gritted her teeth. Someone was going to suffer if she wanted to indulge her egotistical desires. What a hero she was shaping up to be.

“But I think the details of this are best discussed in my office. Are you free on Sunday… Around two in the afternoon?” He asked, back to his old aloof self.

“That is fine for me, sir.” Ruby answered in a shaky voice.

“Excellent,” Ozpin exclaimed, emphasising his words with a clap of his hands that somehow avoided sending his walking stick flying.

He grabbed his miraculously standing cane and stepped past the pair, “Miss Rose, Miss Neo, I hope to see you two again soon.”

“I. Don’t. Like. Him.” Ruby’s scroll stated in a dry voice when Ozpin was well out of earshot. Ruby gasped and looked up at Neo, eyes wide in shock at the almost blasphemous words. Neo stopped watching him leave and turned back to Ruby, her lips forming a tight line.

“What, why!?” Ruby asked loudly, almost shouting, completely unbelieving that anyone could not look up to Ozpin, “He built Beacon from the ground up. He secured the funding and everything. He’s a legend!”

Neo just shot her a pitying look, repeated the message again and dropped the scroll into one of her bags. She picked them back up and continued for Ruby’s flat, leaving the speechless girl standing in her dust.


	4. Dangerous Shortcuts

Ruby caught up to Neo in a spell, not even bothering to trigger her semblance as she was all too happy to stretch her legs a bit; running always helped her when she was stressed out. Something about the speed, the freedom, the wind in her hair or the monotone thumping of her feet against the road just helped her regain her usual chipper attitude.

She even laid on a burst of extra speed when she reached Neo, snatched the closest bag from her hands and flung herself into a sliding pirouette with the bag clutched firmly against her chest. “That’s what you get for a foul start.” She stated, grinning widely.

Her grin dimmed a bit when she saw the mixture of murderous rage and cringing fear that suffused Neo’s posture and painted her face a motley red.

“Uh… sorry,” she stammered out, shrinking into herself while also presenting the bag to Neo.

After a moment Neo reigned in her shocked expression and closed the distance between them, bypassing the outstretched arm until she was close enough for her shorter arms to reach Ruby’s nose. She gave it hearty flick that sent Ruby stumbling back, then waggled her finger in the universal way of all mothers around the world that meant: “Don’t you dare do that ever again.”

She stepped away from Ruby, pushed past her still outstretched arm and continued down the road, waving for the completely cowed Ruby to follow her.

Which Ruby did rather happily. That hadn’t been nearly half as scary as one of Weiss’ tantrums.

After a while Ruby took the lead again and guided her friend down a different road that would see them home a tad bit faster than the path they took in the morning. She had avoided it earlier because it led through the grounds of Beacon Elementary, a school that was attached to the university, and which was usually quite busy with kids playing catch and other, more bystander endangering games.

She shuddered, tweens discovering their semblances and affinities were no joke.

But this close to noon it should be save enough.

“Ruuubyyyy!” The scream of a girl pierced the tranquil air, the sound accompanied by the rapid patter of small shoes. A second later a blonde girl dashed around the corner tailed by a bunch of other kids, all of them around eleven, maybe twelve years old.

Their appearance made Ruby freeze on the spot, her eyes straining at the corners to get a glimpse of Neo.

“Hi Helene,” she finally said, knowing that there was no way out of this ambush, not without Neo by her side. She doubted it would go over well with her new friend if she just vanished into a cloud of rose petals, leaving Neo to be swept away by a pack of overexcited tweens.

“Is it ready yet?” The girl at the front asked eagerly after she caught her breath.

“Kinda?” Ruby said, making an awkward, wobbly gesture with her free hand.

“Kinda? You either have done it, or you didn’t!” Helene stated in her best teacher impression.

“It’s finished,” she admitted, then pointed a thumb towards Neo who watched the entire display with consternation. “But it’s in the workshop and I’m here with a friend. I can get it to you on Monday.”

“But that’s when school starts,” Helene cried indignantly, then added with a pout: “I want to try it now!”

Ruby waved her arms defensively, “I can’t just ditch my friend. I’m sure you can understand that.”

“She can go with you or wait here. It’s not that far to the workshop.” Helene wheedled, all the kids behind her nodding in agreement.

Ruby turned to Neo, “Neo…”

But the girl in question instantly shook her head, squirming visibly at the thought of staying here, surrounded by all these kids, any longer than absolutely necessary.

“No, sorry.” Ruby said with an apologetic smile, ready to push past the group.

“Ha! I bet you couldn’t do it, that’s why you don’t want to get it. You don’t have it!” A boy in the group piped up after the pair took a few steps, his voice rife with mockery of the kind only a kid could muster. His cry made Ruby come to a halt mid step. She whirled around. “Of course, I do.”

“No, you don’t.”

“Yes, I do!”

Nope!” He stated, popping the ‘p’.

“Yes!” Ruby barked.

“Then proof it!” The boy demanded with a wide, victorious grin.

Ruby paused for a moment, then turned back to Neo, focusing her with a begging look. “Pleeasse?”

Neo shook her head vehemently.

“Pretty please!”

She lifted her bags, signalling to Ruby that she didn’t want to carry them for more time than necessary.

“I can carry those.” Ruby offered, already going for her hands, forcing Neo to hastily retract them.

“Please,” Ruby begged again, her eyes growing larger and more puppy like by the moment.

Neo stared at Ruby for a heartbeat, two, then let all the air escape through her nose, dropping her shoulders. She would have groaned if she could have as she realised that she never stood a sliver of a chance.

“Tell me.” The scroll stated, “Ruby.” Neo added a pause for extra emphasis that the dead voice recounting her words so sorely lacked. “Did you really just get baited by a ten-year-old?” She asked, taking great care to type everything out in a grammatically correct way, she wouldn’t want anything to be lost in translation.

She scowled at Ruby when the girl didn’t give her an immediate answer.

“First of all, Larkin is thirteen, he had to repeat a year.” Ruby answered after a moment as it became clear that Neo wouldn’t just drop it.

“Second of all, nooo?”

Neo rolled her eyes at Ruby, “Rly?” Her exasperation plainly written on her face.

Ruby turned away as she felt warmth spread through her face. In a part of her mind she had to agree with Neo, the boy had played her like a fiddle. Or like a triangle, not like he had been a master of deception.

But saying no to them was just so damned hard. They looked up to her and had always been so happy when she helped them, and it wasn’t like they asked for much. She peeked at Neo’s profile; she had done far more for her than for any of those kids.

Also, most of the time they wanted something from her that she was all to happy to provide anyway, like building cool toys. Really, it was no bother! Most of the time.

She nodded at a squat building in front of them. “That’s the workshop.”

Neo glanced up from the scroll she held in her hands and frowned, clearly unimpressed by the place.

“Yea, I know,” Ruby admitted, “it doesn’t look like much. People always expect something grand, considering how famous Beacon is for its eh… revolutionary engineering program. But the building goes a long way down. The stuff that gets built here is more often than not of the explodey sort.”

She fished a key card from her harness and held it up to a nondistinctive metal plate next to the entrance. A moment later the door unlocked with a beep.

“Go on in,” Ruby said as she held the door open for Neo with a bag laden arm. Neo hesitated a step from the door and shot Ruby an unsure glance. She had the distinct feeling that she wasn’t exactly allowed to be here, at least she assumed as much from the hidden cameras all over the place.

But Ruby just shot her an easy smile, waving off her worries, “It isn’t like we’ll go down to the really secure labs.”

Neo shrugged and walked into the dark corridor beyond the worryingly thick metal door, wondering if Ruby was always this trusting.

Ruby pulled past Neo and strode confidently down the hall, breathing in deeply, enjoying the smell of steel, lubricant and dust that pervaded the air even this close to the entrance. She sighed; this was where she was really at home.

“They usually don’t want people here between semesters.” She explained the dark overhead lights, “In fact, you need a special exemption,” she stated with a proud grin. She was the youngest student to ever get it. Usually that privilege was reserved for people working on their master’s or PHD.

Neo smiled at her, vaguely impressed. She gave Ruby a thumbs up.

Ruby bit her lip, unsure if she should say it. She shrugged after a moment of thought, it wasn’t a lie…

“They call me a prodigy.” She immediately followed the words up with a shake of her head, casting doubts on her own words. “I don’t think I deserve it to be honest. It isn’t like I work especially hard or something. It just makes sense, you know? I just look at something and think, hey I think this works like that and sometimes it really does. Or sometimes parts simply look like they belong together…” she trailed off.

She turned the next step into a hop, “But I’ll take it, if it means I get to work in the shop during the summer break!” She exclaimed brightly.

Neo just nodded sagely at her.

“Anywaaays, here we are,” She said as she stopped in front of another reinforced door branching off from the hallway. She unlocked it with her key card and slipped inside, “I’ll just get it from the storage bin,” Ruby stated, already hurrying to the back of small workspace.

The room came as a surprise to Neo, it was kept extremely tidy with nary a tool out of place. Even the scrap metal in the nearby bins appeared to be properly sorted by size and material. But even more glaring was the fact that there wasn’t as much as a single crumb from a chocolate chip cookie to be seen anywhere. All in all, the place was very unlike the Ruby she got to know over the last day.

“They are pretty strict about the rules here,” Ruby explained, having watched Neo from the corners of her eyes, “Especially Professor Goodwitch!” She shuddered a bit, that woman could be terrifying, like an older, less violent and more dignified Weiss.

“Let’s get out of here,” she added seeing as Neo made no move to leave.

The other girl nodded, turned around and let the way back to the entrance.

“Here we are!” Ruby cried excitedly as they made it back to the playground. A few heartbeats later they were once more surrounded by a mob of kids.

“So, where is it?” The boy from before wanted to know haughtily, obviously thinking that they had just stepped around the corner for a bit.

“Here,” Ruby answered with a lazy grin firmly in place on her face. She dropped her bags carefully to the ground, making sure that they wouldn’t fall over and send all the new clothes to the grimy asphalt. Something that may or may not have happened to her at some point in time.

Then she disentangled the strap of a duffle bag from her combat harness and held it proudly above her head.

After a reasonable amount of amazement from Helene and her friends she knelt to the floor and pulled the zipper open, revealing the contents to the ring of expectant faces. Her grin did the unfathomable and widened even further when she noticed that even Neo couldn’t stop herself from leaning closer in the hopes to catch a glimpse of the secret treasure she had gathered from her workshop.

She hadn’t told Neo about the contents of the duffle bag as a bit of petty revenge for the stunt she had pulled earlier with the message to Yang.

She pulled the sides of the bag apart and quickly grabbed the skateboard within, bringing the marvel of craftsmanship into full view. “Here it is, the coolest skateboard ever made.” She boasted proudly, doing so with good reason. The board was really something.

The underside was painted in geometric patterns of red, black and white, reminiscent of the masks of Grimm. The wheels were a bit larger than usual, looking more like the wheels of a longboard than those of a normal skateboard. But the thing that marked it clearly as a custom job was the machinery attached to the wheel mountings and the two silvery grids attached to the upper side of the board.

Ruby pointed at these and explained, “Those are where your feet go, the grid is powered by a bit of gravity dust. That should make it a bit easier to stay on.” She quickly flipped it around and removed the face plate of a small metal box that was connected to the machinery through a multitude of plastic encased wires, revealing something akin to a battery housing to the spellbound crowd. She dug in the side compartment of the duffle bag for a moment until she found a pair of tiny vials. She brought them to the attention of the crowd with an overexcited: “Aha!”

“The lightning dust goes here,” she explained, at the same time slotting the lightning bolt marked vial into the indicated notch. “And the gravity dust here.”

She stood up and waved for the people surrounding her to make some room. Everyone but Neo did so, the girl in question opted for a tiny bit more as she had the sudden feeling that some distance might be prudent. She hastily grabbed the bags of clothes and raced to the small wall that drew the line between playground and street and cowered down, leaving only her hair and dichromatic eyes in view.

Ruby paid her no heed, all too used to such displays of distrust in her technological marvels. Instead she focused on connecting all the right wires and opening the valves regulating the dust flow to the engine.

After a few short moments she made a satisfied noise and stood back up, slicking some unruly strands of hair back, tainting their red tips with a bit of black oil.

“Let’s do this!” She shouted and jumped onto the board exuberantly, all the while grinning like a madman. She frantically waved for the kids in front of her to step aside, and then pushed off with a hearty kick from her powerful legs. She let herself be carried by the initial burst of speed and used the moment of respite to retrieve the little remote she had pocketed from the bag. She depressed the topmost button with a cackling laugh that turned into a screech as the powerful engine kicked in, propelling her forwards at speeds that would have shocked anyone that wasn’t breaking the sound barrier with her own two legs on a regular basis.

She leaned into the curve and whooped as wild sparks traced after the edges of the board, guiding her smoothly through the turn. She continued on, driving a few rounds around the playground to the applause and approving hollers of the kids and some older students that were drawn to the noisy spectacle.

The mad grin hadn’t left her face for even a second, the board behaved even better than she had expected. The powerful fields generated by the mixture of gravity and lightning dust stabilised the board wonderfully, making turns at even high speeds easy and save. She was really glad that Weiss had helped her with the formulas there. Dust chemistry just wasn’t her strength, especially the more esoteric behaviours of dust mixtures. Though she still felt a little bit bad about lying to her to what purpose she needed those formulas. But Weiss would never have approved about this little side project of hers. She could be such a buzzkill.

She turned around for her last lap and raced back towards Helene and her friends, really letting the board run wild for this last stretch. She wasn’t going to disappoint her audience. At the last possible moment, she wrenched the board around with all the strength she had in her, fighting the massive pull from the stabilizing forces to pull of an insanely tight curve. For a moment, everything behaved nicely, then the trailing, glowing lines on each side of the board touched. In the blink of an eye the two bright lines coiled around each other, resulting in massive sheering forces that would have sent a tanker into a barrel role let alone a skateboard and its passenger.

She reacted instantly, her edges blurring and her hair shedding rose petals. Next, she hurriedly moved her feet in the precise manner necessary to disengage from the gravity field holding her shoes captive and kicked off the board. Ruby wrenched herself around mid-air and caught herself with her hands, executing a two-handed backflip that would have garnered her the admiration of any circus performer. Though she hissed loudly as the short contact with the rough asphalt at the extreme speed was enough to tear through her emaciated aura and the flesh beyond.

The unexpected pain caught her flatfooted and sent her reeling, which was problematic considering that she was still flying through the air at breakneck speeds.

Still, she managed to recover before she crashed into the ground and turned most of the forward momentum into several well practiced combat rolls. Something Tai had prudently taught her once the nature of her semblance became clear.

She finally came to a halt a few meters further down the road and sat up, groaning at the mean case of road rash all over her uncovered hands and arms.

“Damn it!” She should have worn her combat gloves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally I wanted to do the reveal in this chapter, but I felt that some additional fluff was in order to make sure that the actions around the reveal wouldn't appear to be pulled from thin air.  
> Anyway, the next chapter is going to be it for sure...


	5. A Painful Truth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Managed to be surprsingly productive during the long weekend. So here you have the reveal a bit earlier than you might have expected. Just a heads-up, this is basically a 3000 word monologue on what's going on with Ruby. Reactions are a bit hard to add organically when the other side of the conversation has a hard time to speak...

Neo slammed the door shut behind Ruby and immediately flinched as it felt like the entire house shook from the amount of force she had put behind the move born from frustration. She had tried to help Ruby home, after she had her accident, but she had refused anything Neo offered. Ruby even wanted to carry the bags home in defiance of her palms that looked an awful lot like minced meat, all the while assuring Neo that it wasn’t a big deal, that she had survived far worse.

Neo ground her teeth just from the memory of Ruby’s persistent foolishness.

Still, in the end she had persisted and had carried their stuff home, leaving Ruby’s death trap in the hands of that blonde girl that was the cause of this whole madness. She didn’t even feel that bad about most likely indirectly killing her.

Neo sniffed; the girl should have known better than to endanger Ruby.

She watched Ruby drop down on her temporary bed and stretch out, wincing as she did so. Ruby clearly harboured more injuries than she had let on. Neo shook her head and hurried for the bathroom, quite sure that she had seen a first aid case somewhere.

She found it easily as the bag with the red cross was displayed proudly under the sink. She pulled it forth from its resting place and headed back to the living room, a tight smile appearing on her lips at the considerable heft of the bag filled with medical supplies.

She dropped to one knee next to the couch and rummaged through the bag, suddenly a bit worried at the plethora of very specific goods. Who needed a dozen bandages pre-cut for shins? Creams for five different kinds of nettle? Ruby had an active aura; nettles should never even touch her skin. She shook her head and continued her search, glad for the neat labelling on the numerous packages. After a bit of searching she finally found a bag marked as ‘in case of road rash’. She sat on her haunches and turned to Ruby with it in her hands.

“What are you doing?” Ruby asked as Neo took holder of her wrist, bringing her palm into sight.

Neo shook the bag of supplies with a slow roll of her eyes.

“That’s not necessary,” Ruby insisted with a faint smile at Neo’s concern. “Just give my aura some time. Scratches like these are fixed in a few minutes.” She nodded at her palm, “see, it is already way better.”

Neo just glared at her unimpressed, clearly not buying what Ruby was selling.

Ruby stared at the ceiling for a few heartbeats, then let out a long sigh, “Look, I’m just a bit tuckered out. I was at home on Patch for a few weeks and haven’t yet had the chance to go recharge. As soon as I can catch up on that those scratches will disappear in the blink of an eye.” She glanced down at Neo who had listened to her in rapt attention, a tube of cream held forgotten in her hand.

She dropped it to the floor and quickly scrabbled for the scroll. Once found she turned it on and hastily wrote a message, “Go on,” the scroll stated after she hammered enter.

“What about? My injury?” Ruby asked, quickly looking away, visibly uncomfortable with where this was going.

Neo went for a poke to Ruby’s belly for her flimsy attempt at derailing the one-sided conversation but thought better of it in light of Ruby’s injuries.

“Feeding.” She dictated the scroll instead.

“You’re hungry?” Ruby asked with feigned surprise and immediately tried to sit up, “I can make you something really quickly! No problemo!”

Neo just rolled her eyes again and pressed Ruby back down onto the couch with a single, firm hand pressed against her breastbone.

“Ozpin talked about!!!” Neo tried again, hoping that the exclamation points got her rising annoyance across, since Ruby conspicuously avoided meeting her eyes.

Ruby groaned, she hated this. Whenever she met someone new there always came a moment where this question came up, be it because they heard the rumours or because they noticed that she often got singled out by her teachers at Signal, something that occurred on a regular basis in spite of Tai working there.

The answer to the question had cost her many potential friends and had even scared away most of those she had. Still, she had promised herself early on that she would always answer honestly, she owed the people around her as much. Also, it was a good way of finding out who your real friends are, as Yang had put it.

This time though the words felt literally lodged into her throat as she feared this rejection far more than any in a long while, probably because it would mean that Neo would vanish back out onto the cold, unforgiving streets, all alone. Though, she didn’t prod that fear all that much, she didn’t want to see what came crawling from under it.

In the end her conscience won out, that and the knowledge that Neo wouldn’t stop asking, now that she had gotten a taste of blood.

“I’m kinda Fey,” Ruby admitted with a shaky voice.

She felt a soft squeeze of her wrist and looked over at Neo where her inquisitive glance was met by a placid, friendly smile. She felt a burst of hope surge through her chest at Neo’s ready acceptance, propelling her further into her story, “Can’t really say what type as my abilities and traits don’t fit any mould. Though that isn’t too much of a surprise considering all the crossbreeding happening since the Exodus and the discovery of dust.”

She stopped for a moment to gather her thoughts. She had done this a dozen times already, but it never got any easier.

“I was eleven, closer to twelve really when my semblance appeared… So pretty late and I was beyond relieved as for me this meant I could become a hero, the thing I always dreamt of ever since my mother disappeared.” She let out a sputtering, self deprecating laugh, “Yeah, stupid, I know. But back then I thought that I could go on an epic journey full of adventure, with countless evils to defeat and at the end of it I would return victoriously with my mother in tow.”

“Not stupid!” Neo interrupted with a wild shake of her head, her long hair flopping all over the place.

Ruby shot her a tired smile, but continued without going further into that matter, more than enough people had called her delusional for her to take such assurances at their face value.

“With the semblance came my aura and with that a lot of dangerous games.” A faint smile appeared on her lips as she remembered some of them. The worst one of which was probably trying to jump on the back of a buck using her slightly heightened running speed and riding it past their house for Yang to see and be jealous of. “Which led to a lot of injuries,” she nodded at the huge bag of medical supplies, “which gave birth to that: Operation keep Ruby in one piece.”

She let out a barking laugh, “The reason I got hurt so much was that my aura was paper thin. Not unusual for a newly emerged aura. Also, Yang had broken one of her arms a bit earlier while she worked on her own semblance. She had discovered that she could use any force applied to her to charge up and I cobbled something together that would uh… punch her.”

It had been a fallen log suspended from a tree limb which we pulled up a steep incline with a pulley and ratchet we found in the garage. It worked marvellously, Yang just didn’t consider that she wasn’t an immovable object, nor that even her semblance had limits.

“So, I was basically running around the forest all by myself. Not that she would have stopped me from doing most of these things, mind you. You wouldn’t believe how thrilled I was when Yang’s arm improved. I was so ready to show her what I could do, after I had to watch her shatter wheelbarrow loads of bricks all summer long.” Ruby sighed and combed her fingers through her hair, wincing a bit at the pain from the forgotten wounds.

“But the better my sister got, the weaker my aura became. It took me longer and longer to recharge the measly bit I had, from a few hours of rest at first all the way to days. By the time the doctor finally removed her cast my aura hadn’t recharged for a week. Something was clearly wrong beyond the capricious nature of a fresh semblance and the only doctor on Patch couldn’t help us. So Tai, Yang and I went to the mainland to get it checked.” She rolled onto her side, now that she had started, she could face Neo without choking up.

“Funny thing is, by the time a doctor finally saw us at the hospital my aura had returned. From there it was an easy diagnosis for them. Apparently, I have some strange form of fay co-dependence, a theory that was confirmed once my dad told them that Yang and I don’t share the same mother. Summer, my mother that is, must have had some fay blood.” Ruby paused for a moment, her mind wandering at the mention of her mother. She missed her just so much! She barely got to know her. It wasn’t fair.

She closed her burning eyes and snivelled her nose quietly, after a deep breath she continued on a different tangent, “Usually a fay co-dependence just means that you have some different needs. Maybe you need to eat foods rich in iron, maybe you need to take the occasional ice bath and if you don’t do that you’ll get sick, like if you have only eaten cookies for two weeks.”

Neo nodded, signalling her understanding, furrowing her brow slightly at the last comparison.

“But I didn’t show any hint of malnutrition, only my aura didn’t recharge. Even stranger though was that this requirement for some kind of additional food source only appeared together with my semblance, when commonly they are an issue from very early on in your life.”

Ruby cleared her throat, “anyways, it took us a while to find out what I was missing on Patch. It is… Eh…” She met Neo’s eyes and held them for a long while, trying to convoy her a feeling, a thought that Ruby herself couldn’t quite put into words. All the while Neo just smiled calmly at her, granting Ruby the time she clearly needed to gather her thoughts.

“Look, please let me finish before saying anything,” Ruby finally begged, a weak laugh escaping her as Neo pointed at her lips that were opened in silent laugher. “Yeah, I guess that won’t be to hard for you,” she rubbed the back of her neck, “Uh… sorry.”

“Just give me time to explain, yeah?” She pled again, relieved when Neo answered her with a serious nod and not with another joke.

“Okay, here we go,” Ruby almost whispered, “The thing I was missing was the pain of others.” She mushed her face into the couch cushions, wishing she could just meld with them. Being a couch giving comfort to others would be rather nice, having Neo lay on top of her.

“Eep!” Her head surged out from between the cheap cushions, her hair crackling with static electricity.

“This is going to sound really bad,” she rushed out, not entirely thinking about her words, “but I got my first real fix when my sister broke her arm. She suffered several fractures and one piece even poked all the way through.” She shuddered at the memory but continued anyway, welcoming the momentary distraction from her previous thoughts, “Also, we were in the middle of the woods where scroll reception is flaky at best. So, we had to walk all the way to our home and from there we had to take the car to the doctors and the streets are awfully bumpy on Patch… Her pain during the whole ordeal must have kickstarted my system and what she suffered through during her recovery kept me going for a while.”

“Consume?” The scroll suddenly asked, despite the wordless promise Neo made earlier.

Ruby shook her head no, not minding the question as she would have answered that one next anyways, “That would make it a bit better, wouldn’t it: Side effect free painkiller, who wouldn’t want a Ruby by their side. But no, the pain is exactly the same in my presence as it is when I’m not there. I absorb something the aura sends out when the owner is in pain. Which, by the way, also means that I don’t get anything from people with no active aura. Though on the other hand I get a way bigger kick the more powerful an aura is,” she explained morosely.

“Now, all of this wasn’t exactly readily apparent, and I had to go through a huge number of tests. I was restricted to the hospital for weeks,” Ruby wildly gesticulated in the air above her head as she grew antsy just at the bare reminder of the time she spent confined to that small hospital room. “You know, because of the Fay Registry,” she explained, continuing her original train of thought after seeing Neo’s furious expression.

“By the time I returned rumours had been flying around the school for weeks, and the administration basically leaked what was going on with me, once they received the update to the Fay Registry with my name on it.” She gritted her teeth, as echoes of the seething rage she felt back then rung through her mind. She shook her head, dislodging the hateful thoughts that wanted to drag her down. She was better than this.

“Not that it mattered, really. From then on, I was barred from sparring for the same reason they ban vampires from medical jobs. They feared that I’d lose control mid battle and just wail on some poor sap, or worse, that I would go about it in a smart way and strike as hard as I can when the fight is almost over and my opponents aura is at its end, hurting them badly.”

Her head snapped up and her hands covered her mouth. “Not that I would ever do that! Or plan it! It’s just a random, idle thought!” Ruby explained frantically.

Neo just gestured for her to calm down, showing not a bit of fear or suspicion on her open face.

“Anyway… That’s basically it.”

Neo gave Ruby a few moments to think about it, but then went for her scroll as Ruby didn’t venture any further information. She chewed on her bottom lip for a moment, thinking everything Ruby had told her over, then started tapping.

“How do you feed here?” She asked, taking the time to write everything out in full. It was important to her to show Ruby that she took this seriously, that she was grateful for being told this rather personal truth.

“I uhm…” Ruby begun; a bit unhappy that Neo had directly zeroed in on the part that she found the most distasteful. Though she didn’t try to stall as she was far to tired after recounting all this painful business.

“I usually just loiter around the outside of the university hospital for a while each week. They house a few injured aura users most of the time.” She shuddered, remembering that she had to do this soon, “It’s pretty nasty.”

“What is?” The scroll asked in Neo’s stead.

Ruby tilted her head, not entirely grasping the question as pretty much all of it was horrid. She felt like a dust forsaken parasite!

“The taste?” she ventured.

“Taste?” Neo asked, her confusion rising steadily.

“Ah, yeah, I didn’t talk about that, did I.” She usually left this part out; most people were ready to flee from her presence by that point. There was really no need to pile this titbit of information on top.

“Over the years I developed a bit of a sense of taste for it,” Ruby offered shily, “I guess it’s a way for me to know how much I get out of it. The taste changes with the kind of pain, the source and the strength of the aura. The stuff at the hospital… It is difficult to explain, since it isn’t a taste in the real sense of the word and more of a feeling. But the stuff I get there is pretty vile.” Her face drew into a grimace, “like a watery soup of week old sweat with an inkling of bile.” She paused, a broken smile blooming on her face, “at least I won’t get addicted to that!” She joked.

Neo watched her thoughtfully, scowling at Ruby’s self-deprecating joke that made her feel all sorts of differing emotions, but none of them humour.

“Others taste good?” She asked hesitantly, afraid that it would pour salt into an unseen wound, though to curious not to ask.

“Sometimes,” Ruby offered quietly after a long pause, “Especially…” she begun, but then swallowed her words that were sure to push Neo away.

“Especially?” Neo asked. She dropped the scroll to the side and instead placed her hands onto Ruby’s. She nodded to Ruby with a soft, understanding smile on her face.

“Especially if I’m the cause,” Ruby rushed out, her voice naught but a whisper. The rush of words was followed by surge of sudden, hot tears that spilled past her closed lids as her mind tumbled into the darkest recesses of her mind.

The people would never see her as anything but an antihero at best, someone that set out to hurt the villain, not to save the damsel. And how could they not, if she herself couldn’t see herself for the hero she so wished herself to be. She was a parasite, a sickness left behind in the wake of the Exodus, mould that grew on the purity of other’s auras.

She let out a dire sob as the dark thoughts took a hold on her, notions that she hadn’t ever shared with Yang or Tai fearing for them to try and dash them. These were beliefs she allowed herself only in between the deepest hours of the night, a few times a year, lest their roots dug deeper into her soul and bore terrible fruit.

Her screaming descent found an abrupt halt as a pair of warm arms wrapped around her and squeezed her tightly, her quaking chest steadied by Neo’s slight form.

Ruby’s eyes opened on their own volition, revealing a blurry image that cleared only after a few blinks. Though the mass of colour finally resolved into Neo’s pretty face that was currently twisted into a visage of anguish.

A sort of suffering that Ruby could never devour.

The agony of a compassionate heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The what, but not the why.


	6. Time For A Recharge

Ruby was never one to refuse a good hug, even after her semblance had awoken. Their purity had resisted all attempts of corruption from her restless thoughts deep at night. The act was far too strongly linked to the few, blurry memories she had of her mother. She had lost most of the visuals, or maybe she never really had them in the first place, but what remained was a strong impression of a soft, comforting embrace, the smell of roses on a warm summer’s evening and the tickle of red locks.

A faint smile appeared on her lips as tears kept spilling forth from her eyes. She closed them as Neo’s face blurred once more into a mess of pinks and browns. She didn’t need to see; feeling was more than enough.

She lifted her arms slowly, as if she were afraid to spook Neo away from her and wrapped the girl into an embrace of her own. Her hands slid over Neo’s back, uncaring of the slight sting her raw palms caused her. Her fingers faltered for a moment as their tips slid over Neo’s spine as she felt protruding bones. The notion that Neo really had to eat more somehow sneaking past the sobs that were still wracking her body.

Ruby pushed the thought aside and gave her heart free reign to enjoy the closeness to someone that already meant so much to her, who knew the truth but didn’t seem to be disgusted by it.

She sighed and slowly let go of the tension that had restricted her chest just that one noticeable bit ever since they had met Ozpin out on the street.

A good, long while later they reluctantly separated from each other, hands trailing past calmly rising flanks as Neo sat up. The movement was almost languid, exhausted in a way and a trace fearful, as if either of them feared to lose something precious if they let go now.

Neo smiled at her for a moment, then stood up with a cutesy wave to retrieve Ruby’s scroll.

“Better?” The device asked in its dead voice, eliciting a short-lived scowl from Neo’s face. She really wished for her voice back in this moment. Though the scowl was wiped off a moment later by Ruby’s hoarse answer, “Sooo much.”

“What now?” Neo asked after her wide grin relinquished some of the control over her facial features it had robbed her off.

“Eh…” Ruby started unsure, trying to get her mind to change gears. But before she came up with a coherent response her tummy took the burden from her by growling loudly.

She reddened a bit and stared of to the side, out the window above the couch. She startled at how low the sun was hanging in the sky. No wonder her stomach was displeased with her. She hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast. They! She corrected in her thoughts, her head snapping back to Neo, a wolfish grin chasing away the exhausted smile that had taken over her face for the last hour or so.

The action was answered by a questioning look from Neo, unsure of what had caused Ruby’s sudden change of mood.

“?” She entered into her scroll, glad that it spelled it out as ‘Question Mark’, a nice way to convoy her confusion.

“Dinner!” Ruby declared and jumped into immediate action while Neo flopped on the couch, her face suddenly devoid of all colour.

Ruby set down her fork and leaned back with a satisfied expression, “That hit the spot,” she stated and promptly let out a seconds long burp. She slammed her hands over her mouth, eyes growing wide from a sudden onset of Pavlovian fear. Her eyes roved the room for a heartbeat, then relaxed as her conscious mind remembered that there wasn’t a Weiss within a few hundred kilometres of her; the heiress probably hadn’t notice it.

She let go of the breath she had held and slid down in her chair, smiling at Neo who was picking at the remnants of the massive portion Ruby had forced upon her. “Fancy a walk?” She asked after a moment of Neo-watching.

The girl in question raised her head and stared at her with a slightly disbelieving look, her eyes switching between their plates and Ruby’s face.

Ruby grasped the silent message easily, used to Blake as she was. The cat eared Fae wasn’t one for long walks after dinner either. She usually just wanted to curl up in some deserted spot in the sun. Ruby grinned on the inside, for someone so against being compared to cat she behaved an awful lot like one. But all the same, she shook her head a minute distance, she’d abide by her friend’s wishes no matter how many cat puns and cute comparisons flew through her mind.

“You don’t have to come,” Ruby offered, “but I’d better take care of this.” She raised her hands, flashing her roughed up palms at Neo. “I don’t think Headmaster Ozpin would be very impressed by my superb arguments with my hands looking like this.” She added offhandedly.

A moment later she winced, remembering that while Neo had been cool with it so far, she didn’t really have to push her aberration in Neo’s face at every single turn.

To her surprise Neo perked up at her words and slid her chair back, grabbing the scroll from the table as she did so.

“Go!” It stated even before she had risen from her seat completely. She raced to one of the shopping bags laying forgotten by the door and searched for the jacket they had bought, flinging clothes every which way in her haste.

She emerged from the pile of bags with the white jacket in hand, shook of the pink shirt that had somehow managed to cling to her shoulder and scowled at Ruby, clearly dissatisfied with the progress the speedster had made in the meanwhile.

Ruby was still seated at the table, her brows hidden behind the curtain of her hair, displaced by the disconcertion she felt at Neo’s sudden action.

“Go! Go! Go! Go!” Ruby’s scroll fired off rapidly in its dead-on-the-inside announcer voice, all in accordance with Neo’s mad hammering of the send button. Ruby watched impressed as Neo juggled the scroll from hands to teeth so that she could thread her arms into the jacket’s sleeves, never once missing the rhythmic beat of the enter key.

Moments later Neo zippered her jacket, angrily stopping two-thirds of the way as the price tag caught on one of the pocket zippers. She tugged at it a few times, growing ever more agitated with each attempt, then finally threw her hands into the air as she gave up on it. She’d just walk around with a huge price tag then; she had gotten away with far worse crimes against style.

She rounded on Ruby and sighed theatrically when she realised that Ruby hadn’t moved one bit. She hurried over to her and took her by the arm, leaving her only the option to either get with the script or fall flat on her face.

Ruby wisely chose the former.

Neo left her just enough time to grab her red cloak and lock the door behind them before she was dragged out of the building by her poor arm. Outside she stumbled into Neo, almost knocking her to the ground, as she suddenly stopped at the realisation that she didn’t know the way to the hospital. She turned to Ruby and waved for her to lead the way, letting go of her arm.

“Okay,” Ruby grinned and went for Neo’s wrist, attempting to turn the tables on her friend. She’d show Neo what happened to people who thought they could get away with dragging a speedster around.

“Uh… oh.” She gasped, realising that she misjudged Neo’s height by a bit and had taken hold of her hand instead of her wrist. She was stumped for a moment by how very soft her palm was, somehow unaffected by the streets she had lived in.

She glanced at Neo’s face, slightly scared of the reaction she would find there. She was happily surprised when the only thing that awaited her was a raised eyebrow paired with an expectant expression and an impatient nod down the street.

Ruby nodded back, her frown lost to a happy smile, and followed the loud and clear instruction and led Neo down the road.

The slight sting in her palm did nothing to dissuade her tentative hold on Neo’s hand.

Once Ruby had pointed out the correct direction Neo took back the lead and let her impatience pull them onward, leaving her always a step ahead of Ruby. Though, after a while the golden light of the setting sun, the residual warmth of the sunny day or maybe the rich meal Ruby had served seemed to get to her and her steps lost their urgency, turning their walk into a leisurely stroll.

“Why cook so good?” The scroll suddenly blared out, shattering the tranquil air. The sudden question caught Ruby completely off-guard and made her stumble on the rough cobblestone used for the small paths meandering through Beacon proper.

Neo’s hand tightened around her own.

She looked over at Neo a bit non-plussed at the question. Why shouldn’t she be a decent cook? She opened her mouth and asked as much. Her words garnered an incredulous look from Neo.

Neo’s hand twitched as she pulled her scroll from her jacket’s left pocket, as if she wanted to disentangle their fingers so that she could write her question easier. But then it stilled after that one, initial move. Instead she twirled the scroll expertly with her left hand until she could comfortable reach all the letters with her single hand and started tapping the keys, her fingers flying to the virtual backspace key every few seconds.

She finally settled on “Ruby = chaos,” the most diplomatic way she could put her thoughts in.

Ruby mock gasped at the comment and stuck out her tongue at Neo, uncaring of how childish the gesture was. She felt a burst of satisfaction when the corners of Neo’s mouth repeatedly twitched ever so slightly upwards.

“Cooking is basically applied physics.” Ruby said, then elaborated further when Neo waved her scroll around while looking at her, a clear signal for her to go more in depth, “Okay, look, you have a bunch of different ingredients, right? Every one of them with their own set of properties?”

Neo nodded.

“And then you need to mix them together, but in a way that doesn’t cause problems because of their properties. You have to regulate the heat and all that stuff, make sure no ingredient burns… That’s all stuff that is also important when you build something. You have different materials that might not mesh too well, or you might need to temper a metal and have to take care not to make it too hot and… stuff.” She trailed off, realising that her words had gotten faster and faster, prodded onwards by her excitement at being able to share something she so dearly loved.

She glanced at Neo to suss out if and where she had lost Neo.

She was met by a slightly amused grin and a shrug of slim shoulders. A weak blush crept on Ruby’s face, “I uhm… can get a bit excited when I talk about engineering… or food.” She apologized, her words widening Neo’s smile into a grin.

“Is okay!” Neo stated and gave her hand a squeeze.

“Learn?” She asked after a minute of comfortable silence.

“How I learned to cook?” Ruby asked, watching Neo to see if she understood correctly. A nod later she started into another, slightly painful tale about her past.

“After Summer vanished Yang basically took over the role of mother. She did most of the household tasks, including the cooking. And I, the little girl that I was, always hung on her coattails. But as it turns out there is only so many times a person can stumble into you while doing work she doesn’t want to do before her patience comes to an end. So, after a while Yang sat me into a corner and thrust a potato into my hands and had me peeling it. That one potato took me so long that lunch was served by the time I had it ready.” She smiled softly, remembering the indulgent smile and head pat Yang had given her when she had proudly presented her older sister with the carefully peeled potato.

“From then on out I got more and more involved in the food prep and discovered that I enjoy it a fair bit. Also, I realised that I could have cookies whenever I wanted if I made them myself.” She paused for a moment, lost in memories, “Also, cookies helped when Tai or Yang were in a funk. Having two mothers just get up and vanish throws you for a bit of a loop, I guess,” she added quietly.

She was suddenly pulled to a stop by their linked hands. Before she could ask what was up, she was drawn into a quick, one-handed embrace. She leaned into it and felt only a slight twinge for how much she enjoyed the contact for reasons besides the genuine comfort it offered.

“Thank you,” Ruby said softly after they pulled apart a moment later. Ruby met Neo’s eyes until her skin started to burn, then she turned away and tugged at their still interwoven hands.

They had continued their slow stroll towards the university hospital for a few metres when Neo spoke next, “Bet you were cute kid!” The playful words sounded strange coming from the scroll. Still, they made Ruby grin widely. “Betcha!” She all but shouted, scaring a few birds off the nearby roofs. She swung their linked hands back and forth, encountering little resistance from Neo, and added a skip to her step.

“I cut my hair myself, once.”

“Why?” Neo stared at her incredulously. Her left hand involuntarily moved to her shoulder length, two-toned hair.

Ruby’s lips formed a pout and she pointed at her own unruly mop of red tipped hair. “Hey! That cut grew on me. Don’t you like it?”

Neo nodded with a genuine smile pulling on the corners of her lips, “Very you.”

Ruby’s pout intensified, “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

The pair walked a few steps before Ruby returned to the original question. “Tai and Yang weren’t feeling to well for a while there, and I didn’t want to put a trip to the hairdressers on their plate, so I found a pair of scissors and took care of it myself.”

A frown appeared on Neo’s face, dismissing the earlier smile. But before she could tap out an answer Ruby went on.

“You should have seen their faces when I proudly showed them my new hair cut.” She added with a laugh.

“I think it was the hardest I heard Tai laugh in months. And Yang… She wouldn’t let me get in a five metres radius of her with a sharp object until I was like ten.”

Ruby caught Neo’s confused expression from the corner of her eyes and quickly elaborated a bit further, “Yang loves her hair like I love Crescent Rose.” She caressed the folded weapon attached to her harness with one hand and whispered, “Who’s a good sniper-scythe, yes you are, yes you are!” Under her breath, laughing on the inside at the disconcerted look flashing over Neo’s face.

“Anyway, they got out of their funk a bit later. I don’t know if it was because of my hair, or if they were just overdue for a mood change. Either way I kept the hair style as a good fortune charm. Though I did improve on its symmetry a bit with time.”

She combed her one free hand through her hair, blushing slightly at what she admitted next, “I was a bit superstitious back then. I have always seen patterns in the most random things and believed I had to follow them or something bad would happen.”

She was unsure of why she had said those words completely unprompted, usually she was a bit shyer about sharing these specific things about herself. Still, in for a penny, in for a Lien as her father always said.

“I still see them today, though I try to ignore them for the most part.” Ruby said, her voice carrying a shaky touch. “I think it’s because I’m an engineer; always wanting to connect things to each other.” She added with a shrug. A heartbeat later she tilted her head to the side. “Or am I an engineer because of the patterns I see?”

“Eh…” She shook her head, “doesn’t matter really.”

“I like Ruby,” Neo dictated the scroll and squeezed Ruby’s hand in a show of support. The kind sentiment made Ruby beam at her.

The sun was slowly sinking below the horizon when Ruby suddenly slowed to a crawl, a grimace shattering her placid smile.

“Ugh…” She groaned and swallowed hard. The hospital had to have an entire bunch of aura users as patients for their auras to hit her that hard this far out. She said as much to Neo who watched her looking rather alarmed.

Neo nodded in understanding and gestured for a nearby park bench overlooking the bit of green around the hospital grounds.

“Close enough?” The scroll asked just as Ruby nodded.

“Yes,” she said for good measure and pulled Neo over to the bench by their linked hands. She sat down close to the end of the bench, leaving ample space for Neo. She was so consumed by the sick feeling spreading through her body as it did its thing and swallowed up the suffering in the air in big gulps that she almost jumped when Neo sat down right next to her, their hips touching.

“I hate this,” She spat out through gritted teeth, the words only meant for her own ears. Cursing was one of the ways she usually coped with the awful feeling threatening to turn her stomach upside down. Though, unlike all the other times, this time Neo was with her and the mute girl heard her quiet curse perfectly. She let go of Ruby’s hand and instead slid her arm around the trembling girl’s back. She pulled Ruby tightly against herself and took hold of Ruby’s hand with her free one.

They stayed there on that bench for a while and watched as darkness fell over the greenery, only for the shadows to suddenly be chased away as the numerous lamps lining the paths sprung to life.

The quiet of the little park was only disturbed by Ruby’s laborious breathing.

“Look,” Ruby said after a while, nodding at her palms, having noticed the start of a tell-tale itching.

Neo watched with open-mouthed astonishment as the bloodied flesh of Ruby’s palms started to knit together before her eyes at a speed that was like nothing she had ever seen or even heard off. After barely a minute all traces of the injury where gone, replaced by soft, unblemished skin.

She took Ruby’s hands in her own and ran her thumb over the mended flesh, barely able to believe what she was feeling. She shook her head, spraying Ruby with her hair. This was absolutely insane.

Ruby watched all of it with a wide grin, having expected exactly this reaction. Every single person who had witnessed it had acted in the same, unbelieving way. Their expressions never failed to put a smile on her face. It was almost like they had never seen nor heard of a vampiric Fae’s regenerative abilities.

There was a reason why vampires where such feared opponents, and it wasn’t because of their fashion sense.

“Let’s head back?” Ruby asked after another moment, enjoying the sensation of Neo’s administrations, now that she didn’t feel the aura of suffering in the air as oppressively anymore.

“I’ve absorbed as much as I can.”

Neo looked up from her hand and focused her with an intense, searching stare. After a moment she seemed to have found what she was looking for and relaxed her posture. She nodded and got up from the bench, pulling Ruby along.

“I just hope this is enough to convince Headmaster Ozpin to let me fight. I’d really love to see how I square up against Pyrrha Nikos.” She patted Crescent Rose and added softly, “Yes I know that you’d like that too, sweetie.”

Neo just nodded with a serious look on her face. He’d better.

Ruby took a pair of rapid steps, turned around and faced Neo while still walking backwards ahead of her. “By the way…” She started, an ill-fitting serious expression on her face, “did you think about Headmaster Ozpin’s offer?”

Neo shook her head no, and immediately groaned silently as Ruby’s eyes suddenly gained a familiar shimmer. That was all the warning she got before Ruby blasted her puppy dog eyes at her at full power.

Neo rolled her eyes. She had wanted to think about it when she had some quiet. But now that plan was dead and buried. Now there was only one option left.

She shook her head slightly, eh… Who was she kidding? Her choice had been made the moment he had made the offer, long before Ruby had poured out her heart.

“Accept.” Neo made the scroll say, then pulled past Ruby and twirled her back around with a bit more force then was strictly necessary. She strolled down the path, a slow, happy smile blossoming on her lips that reached all the way up to her eyes as the ecstatic look on Ruby’s face played over and over in her mind’s eye.


	7. A Meeting With The Headmaster

Ruby fidgeted in her seat again and her shifting weight forced a loud creak from the aged leather and steel monstrosity, garnering her a dark over-her-glasses stare from Professor Goodwitch and an amused smile from Neo. She froze in place, blanched a bit, and mouthed a silent ‘sorry’ at the irate Deputy Headmaster. She didn’t even dare breathing until the blonde woman broke eye contact and resumed her paperwork.

She let out the held breath in a slow, steady exhale through her mouth and relaxed her shoulders a bit, the chair already threatening another creak at that small motion. She froze again, her eyes focused entirely on Professor Goodwitch and prayed that they wouldn’t have to wait much longer or her behind would lose all feeling.

Some benevolent god must have heard her prayers, as only a few more minutes later the intercom crackled to life. The voice was a bit too quiet for her to make out, but the meaning of the interruption was pretty clear. She straightened out her red shirt and watched the blonde behind her massive table expectantly.

The intercom fell silent and Professor Goodwitch looked up at Ruby, meeting her eager gaze. She nodded with an exasperated look on her face. “Yes, Miss Rose, you may go in now,” she stated, and then added, “You too Miss Neo,” and dismissed them with a wave of her hand in the direction of the elevator, her eyes already back on her work.

Ruby looked over at Neo in the seat next to her, hands placed on the armrests ready to push her out of her seat. Neo answered her glance with a shrug of her shoulders and stood up, headed over to the elevator and pressed the call button.

“Yes, the both of you.” Professor Goodwitch suddenly said without bothering to put down her pen, making Ruby jump out of her seat. Ruby hastily joined Neo at the elevator, limping on every second step.

“My leg fell asleep,” Ruby mouthed towards Neo who had watched the entire thing with a quaking grin.

The elevator arrived a moment later and the door slid open noiselessly, revealing a bright, modern interior to the pair. They stepped in and Ruby pressed the button for the only other floor. The elevator ride only took a few seconds even though the Headmasters office was at the very top of the university’s main tower.

Ruby marvelled at the speed, wondering if it was Atlassian engineering that made it possible or if a company from Vale had the know-how to build something like this. She tilted her head to the side and wondered if she would be allowed to take a look at the machinery. She shook her head a heartbeat later. Probably not. Insurance and all that nonsense.

The cabin announced their arrival with a soft sound that could most likely also be heard in the office and opened its doors, discharging them into the Headmaster’s office, a place non of them had seen so far.

What awaited them had both of them stop mid stride and stare in awe.

Apparently, the office was placed just behind the large mechanical clock that overlooked the front yard of the university. Numerous huge, slowly revolving gears could be seen through the translucent glass, casting strange but elegant shadows on the floor and furniture, giving the room a feeling of ever-changing life.

In her awe at the fantastical sight before her Ruby completely overlooked Headmaster Ozpin sitting behind his sleek, modern desk. He had a soft, indulgent smile on his face as he watched them take in the room, granting them the time they needed.

When Neo’s eyes finally fell on him, he greeted the pair with serene smile. “Greetings Miss Neo, Miss Rose.” His sudden words elicited a strangled squeal from the unaware Ruby.

He waved at the chairs placed in front of his desk, “Please take a seat.”

They quickly followed suit, Ruby with a muttered, “Hello Headmaster Ozpin,” and Neo with a half-hearted nod.

“Thank you both for finding the time to meet with me,” he opened up with, “I’m sure you have many, better things to do than to waste your Sunday with administrative tasks. So, let’s make this quick.”

Neo nodded, as that was just fine by her, while Ruby politely shook her head, a dispute to the claim on the tip of her tongue. But before she could voice it Ozpin powered on, “Let’s start with you first, Miss Neo.” He pulled a bunch of papers from a thin file, leaving through them with barely a glance at the contents. Neo recognized some of the sheets as the papers she had filled out a few minutes ago down in the other office. How had he gotten them so fast?

“This seems all in order,” he finally stated and put the file to the side without another comment. The easy acceptance gave rise to a deep frown on Neo’s face. She had left half the fields blank! She hadn’t even entered a last name for dust’s sake and the guy just accepted that. She shook her head, dismissed her frown and glanced over at Ruby. Were all people so trusting around here or was something else going on.

“Since you haven’t provided a bank account, we took the liberty to make you one.” He slid a matte silver plastic card over to her side of the table, taking no notice of her narrowed eyes, “Your monthly stipend will be deposited directly to this account.”

He placed a small booklet next to the card, tapping it with one finger, “In here you’ll find the campus rules, make sure to read them in detail.” He shot Ruby a not so subtle, accusing glance, “And if you see anyone breaking them, feel free to remind them of the rules.”

He added a thin document on top of the growing pile, “This is the course selection. You’ll need to hand this in by the end of the second week. Until then you can visit whatever class you want. Though I’d advise you to settle for something as soon as possible.”

He leaned back and steepled his fingers and watched them through the tinted lenses of his small, rotund glasses.

“Now then, there is one last issue that is not as easy to resolve.” He tapped a single finger against Neo’s file. “You left the address field empty,” He held his hand up to forestall her comment. “It doesn’t matter why, it’s not too uncommon around here. Usually, we provide housing in that case. But because of your late admittance and a rise in the number of students from overseas all the dorms on campus are full. We are currently looking for a place off campus, but that endeavour is difficult at the best of times. You wouldn’t know…”

“She can stay with me!” Ruby suddenly blurted out, interrupting Ozpin mid word. Her face turned a deep red a moment later as she realised the depth of her audacity. She shrunk into her seat, her head almost vanishing between her shoulders, her eyes downcast.

The silence after her words was broken by the sound of shuffling papers, and a few seconds later by Ozpin’s sonorous voice, “Do you have the space Miss Rose? If my memory serves me right, then I seem to remember that you live in one of the apartment buildings on the boundary to the University. The flats aren’t very big. “

“I don’t have too much space,” Ruby admitted and risked a glance at the Headmaster. He didn’t seem upset with her interruption. Her words gained in strength. “But we can do bunkbeds! I always wanted bunkbeds.” She said excitedly.

Her head swivelled in Neo’s direction. “Only if you want, of course.” She added contritely as she realised that she hadn’t let Neo the chance to voice her own opinion before going off on finding solutions to a problem that might very well not exist. Neo seemed like someone who’d like to be on her own from time to time.

Yang had always told her that it could get a tad bit exhausting living with her under one roof. Though that might have been just a bit of sisterly ribbing.

To her happiness Neo just nodded, a soft smile gracing her lips.

Ha take that Yang, Ruby grinned.

Ozpin clapped his hands, “Grande!” His gaze pin ponged between Ruby and Neo, “We’ll still look for apartments off campus, in case it doesn’t work out. But don’t feel obliged to move apart when we find something. We usually get a few inquiries for room reassignments every year, so we’ll find a use for them anyway.”

He pushed the papers a bit closer to her and nodded at them as if to remind her of their existence. Neo just rolled her eyes and gathered them up, only to drop them into her lap. No way was she going to hold them for the rest of their talk like some kind of teacher’s pet.

Headmaster Ozpin put her file away and, once he had turned back around, straightened his glasses. He fixed Ruby with a firm look. “Now to you Miss Rose. Your aura looks quite a bit better than the last time I’ve seen you. Though,” he lifted a warning finger, the motion wiping Ruby’s grin straight of her face. “You could still do a lot better.”

Neo perked up at hearing that and scowled at her. Ruby didn’t meet Neo’s angry stare, the little she was able to see from the corner of her eyes more than enough to discourage her from that folly. It was far safer to just face the Headmaster.

“Still, this will do for the moment and I’ll allow you to take the combat classes, but,” he lowered his head a fraction and stared at her over his small glasses, “I will expect you to keep it at least at this level, and so will your teachers. If you appear with less for practice, you will have to sit the lesson out. Is that clear?”

Ruby nodded, gulping at his heavy gaze, “Yes, sir!” She squeaked out a moment later when his intense look wouldn’t abate.

He nodded, satisfied with her answer, “Excellent…” He started, only to get interrupted again, though this time by a different source.

“I make sure!!!” Neo’s scroll stated slowly, pronouncing every ‘exclamation mark’ carefully. Her gaze was firmly fixed on Ruby, her eyes glinting dangerously.

Ozpin chuckled as Ruby shrunk away from Neo, “I see you are in the best of hands, Miss Rose.” He leaned back in his chair, his eyes hidden behind tinted glasses and seemingly listened to the ticking of the gears as he considered something. After a moment he lurched forwards with a small, satisfied smile playing on the corners of his lips. He clapped his hands, the surprisingly loud bang shattered the tension between Ruby and Neo, sending both girls firmly back into their respective seats.

He smiled at the pair, “Well then. With all this taken care of I let you get back to the fun parts of your Sunday. Miss Rose, Miss Neo, I wish you a good start to your new school year. And Miss Neo, please don’t forget to make an appointment with the school counsellor so that we can assist you with your disability.”

“Thank you, Headmaster Ozpin,” Ruby said for the both of them, as Neo just nodded in the background, her voice betraying the happiness ballooning her heart. She almost sent the chair to the floor as she sprung hastily onto her feet, her body barely able to contain her excitement.

She waved at Ozpin and was already halfway to the elevator when his voice cut through the cloud of happiness surrounding her head.

“Miss Neo, don’t forget your papers.” Ruby whirled around on one foot, took a supporting step back to halt her momentum and watched Neo return to the desk with a sour expression. She leaned down and picked up the papers that must have slipped of her lap earlier, when Neo got angry with her.

A moment later Neo had caught up with her and the two stepped into the waiting elevator cabin. Ruby sighed in relieve as the doors closed behind them without another word from the Headmaster. Though her expression took a turn for the worse a moment later when she faced Neo with a cheerful grin, ready to talk her friend’s ear of with all the battle plans she had developed while observing from the side-lines.

She blanched at the rageful slant of Neo’s eyebrows and prepared for a storm worse than any Weiss could dish out.

“Lier,” Neo stabbed at her chest with a single finger.

“No, no, no,” Ruby rushed out, throwing her hands up defensively, “I didn’t lie,” she implored, “I took all that I could from the hospital.”

Neo glared at her for a moment, the muscles of her jaw twitching. After a heartbeat she pulled her accusing finger back and typed out another word on Ruby’s scroll, “Explain!”

“Yes,” Ruby all but shouted and waggled her head wildly up and down like a demented bobblehead.

“There is only so much I can draw from my surroundings. The hunger is like a pressure inside of me. The more sated it gets, the harder it is for me to push more of the energy inside.” She wrung her hands as she looked for a different, better way to explain, “It behaves a bit like a dissolved salt. The higher the concentration inside of me is, the higher the concentration on the outside has to be for it to diffuse into me. To break past the current level I’m at I have to…” she trailed off and only continued at Neo’s insistent encouragement in the form of a bony finger stabbing at her soft tissue, “I have to hurt someone myself.” She finished quietly, words almost a whisper.

Neo’s hot-red anger turned to smoke in the blink of an eye, doused by a wave of intense regret.

“Sorry,” she apologized, her entire body screaming the word she could not speak herself.

Ruby took a deep breath and waved her apology of, “It’s okay,” she said and excited the elevator ahead of Neo, pulling the contrite girl along by her arm.

She waved goodbye to Professor Goodwitch with her free hand, not at all bothered when the busy woman didn’t react to her action and stumbled out of the office into the deserted hallway beyond.

“Let’s get out of here,” she told Neo as the door fell shut behind them, her usual bubbly happiness already creeping back into her tone. “What do you want to do?” She asked over her shoulder as she led Neo out of the dim administrative building and back into the bright mid-day sun.

She released her grip on Neo to shade her eyes while she held the door open for her roommate.

Her roommate… The sun’s reflection of her pearly white teeth almost blinded the passer-by’s as her mind caught on that word.

“We could go to the park.” Ruby offered after trying and failing to wipe the wide grin from her lips. “What do you think?” She asked and rounded on Neo, only to find empty space where she had expected her friend to be.

She swivelled her head from side to side but couldn’t catch even a glimpse of Neo’s multi-coloured hair. Ruby backtracked the few steps to the entrance and scanned the hallway beyond the glass door. Though that too was for naught, the hallway was as deserted as it had been mere moments earlier.

Confused, she turned away from the gloomy corridor and scanned the plaza in front of the administrative building. Had Neo slipped past her without her noticing it?

There was a good number of people strolling down the paths or sitting on the bits of greenery, most of them students that had moved back into their dorms these last few days for the start of the new school year.

She eyed the groups of people, but the only oddities that caught her eyes were a bunch of guys playing catch getting berated by a woman in a fancy red dress, a couple making out on the grass and a girl doing some kind of animated impression to the loud, encouraging howls of her friends.

Not a single strand of pink hair in sight. Which was strange, now that Ruby thought about it. The students here were pretty individualistic, and you usually could find hair of every colour without too much of a hassle.

She opened her mouth to shout for her friend, but only a muffled shriek made it past the dainty hand suddenly covering her mouth. Her outlines started to blur as she slackened the mental chains on her semblance, and her hair started shedding rose petals. She felt a mad giggle bubble up from her chest as her pulse succumbed to the siren song of her power and surged to a level that would be deadly for anyone else.

Her fist clenched tight in anticipation, but before she could unleash her righteous fury on her attacker an odd sense of familiarity stalled her hand.

A second later the hand covering her mouth slipped from her lips, graceful fingers coaxing her to follow.

Her eyes were met by Neo’s two-toned ones.

A crinkle appeared in the corners of her eyes, drawing Ruby’s attention to the impish grin on the much too close girl’s lips.

Neo held a finger across her lips, shushing her.

She held the other hand up and showed off the brochure tangled between her soft fingers, displaying no regard for the crinkles she put into the spine. Once Ruby had clearly seen the booklet, she waved the hand towards the door and let go of the brochure, easily recapturing the fluttering booklet before it could reach the ground.

Ruby grasped the meaning of her charade without difficulty and nodded. Though, she still wondered how Neo could vanish into the branching hallways that quickly without alerting her. She fingered the pouch holding her favourite pair of headphones, the ones with the rose emblem on them, and wondered if she might need to tone down on the volume a bit. Getting eaten by Grimm because she couldn’t hear them sneak up on her wasn’t the epitaph she’d like to get on her gravestone. Not that she wanted any kind of epitaph anytime soon.

Her train of thought was interrupted as Neo clasped their hands together and pulled her off the cobblestone paths and into the shades of a few trees. She pulled out Ruby’s scroll and handed it back to her, one finger tapping at a notification, opening the chat with Yang.

Ruby wanted to read all of it, realising her chance to finally find out what Neo had written to her sister, but she was headed off by Neo, who impatiently clacked her nails against Yang’s last message.

“RSVD arena smack down Pyrrha come now.”

Ruby let out a peal of laughter and shook her head. Her sister had hankered all summer for a chance to fight Pyrrha again. Claiming an easy victory over the redhead because of her new training regime and the ‘secret techniques’ she had perfected, completely ignoring the fact that Pyrrha had just won another regional tournament.

Her laugh calmed to an excited grin at the opportunity to see her sister bested for the umpteenth time. “Can we go watch, or do you want to do something different…?” She asked, finger pointed at the scroll.

Neo nodded.

Ruby tilted her head to the side, uncertainty visible on her forehead.

“You want to go…? Or…”

Neo rolled her eyes and gave her a thump up and signalled for Ruby to lead the way.

The architects had wisely placed the smaller of the university’s two arenas right next to the main plaza and so it was only a short walk until they arrived at the colosseum style facility. The double doored entrances to the seating area were wide open, as was usual even on a Sunday. They walked through the unlit stone tunnel to the other side and emerged high above the arena in the middle row of seats. Ruby quickly let Neo down to the first row and jumped onto the railing separating the spectators from the ten metres drop into the arena proper.

She ignored the sudden red glow illuminating her as well as the slight tingle of the Fae circle protecting the audience from the occasional stray bullet and waved animatedly for her sister that was currently chatting with Nora.

After a moment Yang raised her hand in greeting and said something to Nora that was to quiet for Ruby to hear. Though it must have been something concerning her fight with Pyrrha as the girl with the giant hammer gave a lazy two finger salute and then jogged for one of the entrances leading into the hypogeum.

Ruby slid off the divider and sat down next to Neo, who had already claimed a spot for herself.

“That’s my sister Yang,” Ruby explained, pointing out the lone girl standing in the middle of the arena floor.

“Gathered,” Neo stated with a wiggle of her eyebrows. Her words were quickly followed by another query from Ruby’s scroll. “Weapon?”

Neo winced as Ruby started to vibrate, shaking the entire length of the cheap plastic seats, drawing several noises of displeasure from the few other spectators on their row.

“Yang has these really cool combat gauntlets.” Ruby rambled, one word flowing into the next without a pause, “They start out as bracers but can expand to cover her lower arms and hands. Their material is strong enough to take a direct hit from most weapons, so she can use them to punch and block. But even cooler, they have these drum magazines built in, so they can also shoot. The ammunition is shotgun like, since she can’t aim that well with the weapon attached to her arms.”

She paused to take a bunch of big, gulping breaths, then continued with Yang’s opponent.

“Pyrrha on the other hand has a javelin that she can turn into a sword or a rifle. The mechanisms on that one are insaaane… Though sadly I haven’t gotten an in-depth look at them since those are a bit of a clan secret. She also has a small round shield she uses for defence. It has to be enchanted in some way as it can easily handle a Death Stalker’s stinger.”

“K.” Neo typed out on the scroll; her lips twisted into a wry grin.

“It’s about to start!” Ruby exclaimed loudly as Pyrrha appeared from the deep shadows of one of the tunnels, forgetting about all the other small details and facts about the weapons she wanted to tell Neo about.

She was so absorbed by the movement down in the arena that she didn’t notice Nora’s arrival until the woman leaned over the back of Ruby’s chair, invading her personal space. “Do you think your sister stands a chance this time?” She asked, sounding just as excited as Ruby.

“Not a bit,” Ruby grinned back and waved for her and the rest of team JNPR to join Neo and her in the first row.

“That’s Neo,” she introduced her friend, who waved shily at the three new arrivals. “She’s my new roomie.”

“But I think she’ll last a bit longer than the last few times,” Ruby continued after the chorus of greetings died down. “She trained her endurance heaps during the summer.”

“I hope your right,” Ren stated in his calm way, “I’d be really grateful if I don’t have to hear stories about the ‘One Pump Wonder’ for another semester.”

“Shush, it’s starting.” Nora interrupted and lunged out of her seat to lean over the divider, only to be wrenched back into her seat mid move by an exasperated Ren.

“We talked about this, Nora…”

She pouted at him but didn’t try for a second time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the abrupt ending, but I realised that this point is better than in the middle of the fight, or what comes after.  
> Also, one thing I dislike about the written medium is how hard it is to dispense information without being obvious when doing it. That's way easier in a game or movie.


	8. Wreaking Ball

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apparently my writing is solar powered. I usually sit on my balcony when I write, but the weather was pretty bad pretty much the entire last week. So getting here was a bit of a slog. Hopefully that isn't showing through in the chapter. 
> 
> Also, I tried my hand at a combat scene for a bit. If you guys have any advice/opinions I'd be happy to hear them.

Down on the arena floor Yang and Pyrrha went through the customary motions preceding a spar, they moved to the marked start position and bowed to each other. Yang’s was a bit sloppy, a far cry from Pyrrha’s perfect form.

Pyrrha proved her expertise further when she fastened the battle band around her upper arm in one quick movement. She tapped the inset button to signal her readiness and unsheathed Miló, her bronze blade. She swung it around in a single hand to loosen her wrist and watched as the big banner with her name and stats appeared above the arena.

She grinned as the bar indicator for her aura filled all the way.

On the other side of the arena Yang struggled with her battle band, stumbling around in the soft sand and almost growling as she tried to get the damned thing to close over her biceps. When it finally gave in to her will, she punched the air, glad that she didn’t need Pyrrha’s help this time.

A good omen for their battle as far as she was concerned.

She returned to the glowing mark on the floor and squared her shoulders. She pumped both arms, one after the other, loading a shell into each barrel of her combat gauntlets with a satisfying ratchet sound.

She signalled her readiness and slid her feet apart into a wide, stable stance.

Yang’s banner appeared a moment later opposite Pyrrha’s, also showing off a fully charged aura. A second later a big ‘3’ took the stage, widening the space between the two banners by a few metres. The three morphed into a two and a one as it counted down to the fight.

The air between the two combatants flashed when it reached zero, signalling the disappearance of the barrier between the two fighters that would have caught any sneaky attempt at getting an early shot in.

“Goooo Yang!” Ruby whooped from the stands in a show of sisterly solidarity.

Yang apparently took that as an order and instantly rushed down on Pyrrha. The Amazon didn’t show any fear as Yang thundered towards her like a raging bull, instead she swung Miló around and transformed it into her rifle. She took careful aim and squeezed the trigger just… so.

A loud bang echoed through the gallery, eliciting a wave of excited cries from the viewers that didn’t die down even when the bullet glanced harmlessly of Yang’s brandished bracers.

Pyrrha sidestepped Yang’s opening gambit easily, just like she had done in the past, only to be caught by surprise when the blonde brawler suddenly changed direction by discharging both of her bracers into thin air.

The shields flared brightly as they protected the arena’s walls from twin plumes of scorching hot fire.

She clipped Pyrrha with a fist as she swung around. The twang of steel against bronze was drowned out by Ruby’s jubilant cry for all ears but those of the two combatants.

“That’s one of mine!” Ruby rushed out, tugging at Neo’s shirt and pointing down into the arena with the other hand.

Down in the arena Pyrrha let herself move with the punch, glad that Akoúo̱ had caught the brunt of the force. She tumbled to the sand and executed a perfect combat roll that ended with her on one knee. She snapped off another shot, this one striking true. She lunged forwards and smashed Miló’s javelin form into Yang’s gut.

Yang’s aura flared an intense yellow as it protected her bare stomach from taking debilitating damage, though expending a good amount of energy to do so. The light lasted for less than the blink of an eye and revealed unbloodied skin, her abs only marred by a few yellow, vein like afterimages.

She recovered quickly from her shock and bashed the javelin aside. She turned the table on Pyrrha by using their immediate proximity to her advantage. She grinned, she was the brawler, not the redhead.

She threw herself at Pyrrha with balled fists and delivered a quick one, two before Pyrrha could bring Miló to bear.

Yang was first to disengage. She had heard the tell-tale whirr of a transformation mechanism and rightfully guessed that a sword was coming for her flank. Though she didn’t leave without a last goodbye from Ember Celica in the form of close-ranged shotgun fire to the chest.

She let the blowback carry her away from her opponent and slid to a halt a good few metres away from where she had started.

She looked up at the displays floating over their heads and blinked in surprise.

Pyrrha’s aura had barely taken a scratch, while her own was down a third.

“What the fu…” She shouted, her exclamation ending in a sudden gasp as another bullet hit her right in the chest. The impact was strong enough to wrench her around and drop her to the ground, sparks trailing in her wake from the bits of lightning dust infused into the bullet.

Once she hit the ground Yang tumbled to the side and narrowly avoided the next barrage. Miniature sandstorms appeared where the rounds struck, the stirred-up dust streaked by blindingly bright lightning.

Yang sprung to her feet and used her bracers to once more propel herself towards her opponent, her lips drawn into a grim, white line. She unleashed Ember Celica’s thundering wrath time and time again without any regard for her own safety. She had only one goal in mind: to wipe Pyrrha’s smug expression from her face.

Dust swirled in her wake, the grains of sand almost flamelike in their appearance as they reflected the glow of Yang’s blazing hair. To the captivated audience the roaring woman looked like a burning comet breaking through the cloud cover.

Ruby held her breath as her sister smashed into Pyrrha and unleashed the terrible might of her semblance.

The arena shook from the impact of Yang’s fist on Akoúo̱’s bronze plating, the polished metal rung like the bell of a titan, the sound deafening to the audience even through the protection of the shields.

When the dust settled Pyrrha stood close to the wall with her untarnished shield still raised, her wide eyes visible over the brim of the round shield.

The arena floor was devastated, deep perpendicular furrows were carved into the floor where the two fighters had met and led all the way to the sides of the arena where they abruptly ended.

Yang kneeled at the origin of the destruction, head bent and cradling her right arm. After a few deep breaths she lifted her head and studied the scoreboard, only to let her head droop a moment later. She had lost, her aura was deep in the red.

The quiet that had settled over the arena was broken by Ruby’s hyped cry, “Weeeh! That was completely bonkers!”

She jumped out of her seat like Nora had done earlier and dove over barrier before anyone could react. The safety line brought her fall to an abrupt halt about halfway down, leaving only a four metres drop. Something that she could handle easily, charged as she was.

She hit the quick release on the rope spool built into her harness and fell the rest of the way to the arena floor. She landed in a neat three-point stance on the warm sand, then her form blurred into a red shower of petals as she raced over to her sister, her crazy speed whipping the sand into a frenzy.

She flung her arms around Yang and shook her wildly. “You really showed her!” She all but screeched.

“I lost,” Yang sighed morosely, still starring at the ground.

“But look, look.” Ruby fretted and pointed one hand at the sky. She shook her sister a bit more, for good measure.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m looking.” Yang answered grudgingly, her teeth clacking together in a distinctly toe-curling way.

“Oh…” She starred at Pyrrha’s status display, her disbelieve at what she saw plainly visible on her face. “Wow.”

She hadn’t defeated Pyrrha, hadn’t even come close, but she did reduce her opponent’s aura below the halfway point, a feat that no one in their grade had managed so far.

Yang let out a loud whoop, jumped to her feet and gave Ruby a bone breaking hug that had Ruby’s feet pedal the air.

“No. Air.” Ruby gasped as she tried to wiggle free from the bearhug.

“That was a great fight Yang,” Pyrrha said pleasantly and offered her hand to Yang. She dropped Ruby at once and returned the gesture, preening at the words. “Same too you.”

“That last hit, puh,” Pyrrha shook her arms out, “If it hadn’t been for Akoúo̱ you would have won.”

“Eh…” Yang waved off, “I’m sure you had a dozen ways to avoid that.”

Ruby knew from experience that the conversation would continue in that vein for a while and snuck away. Pyrrha was just too nice to leave her opponent feeling like they failed, and her sister, for all her boisterous talk, wasn’t very good at taking heartfelt compliments from people she admired.

So, she leisurely wandered back to the end of the arena where she had jumped down and was happy to see that her line was still dangling in place. When she was only a few metres from the wall she pushed a tiny portion of her aura into that ravenous, black maw in her mind and unleashed her semblance. Using her super speed, she barrelled down on the wall, took a few blurring steps up the vertical surface and then pushed off into a perfect backflip. She caught the dangling rope easily and let it swing her back against the arena wall.

Her heavy boots released small puffs of sand and dust on impact.

With her feet firmly pressed against the wall and her hands wrapped around the strong safety line climbing the rest of the distance to the railing was child’s play for her and barely ten seconds later found her sliding over the top of the balustrade.

She dropped to her feet and absentmindedly dusted herself off with one hand, while the other one was busy with detaching the throwing hook from the railing.

“Oww!” Ruby winced as something rapped the top of her head hard enough to make her aura sparkle.

“Don’t! Do! That! Ever! Again!” The scroll’s narrating function stated at max volume from right next to her ear. The ear-splitting sound made Ruby cringe even further away from her attacker.

When the racket finally came to an end Ruby tentatively opened one of her eyes and looked up at Neo, who had somehow managed the impossible and was currently towering over her, fists pressed to her hips.

She thumbed a button on the scroll and triggered the narration of the second sentence she had prepared, “Take! The! Stairs!”

“But Blake…” Ruby started to argue. Blake had inspired the entire thing with that ribbon of hers, and once Blake had seen the mechanism she had built into her harness the black-haired Fae was all too willing to show her some tricks. So, she had been completely safe!

But Neo apparently didn’t want to hear any of it, she just raised her right fist threateningly, her bunched knuckles completely white.

Ruby took the warning seriously and swallowed the rest of her argument. She raised her hands, palms open towards Neo and placated her friend, “Yes! I’ll take the stairs next time.”

“Even if running down stairs at the speed of sound isn’t any safer,” she added in a quiet mumble meant only for herself.

She flinched back against the railing as hard knuckles came flying for her head. She dashed to the side and ducked behind Nora who had watched the exchange with a gleeful expression.

“I see you found your Ren,” Nora giggled, “Good on you!”

She watched Neo advance on her for a moment, then decided that getting out of the way may be the more prudent choice and, for once in her life, actually headed her own advice.

“I’ll leave you two to it then,” Nora stated through bouts of giggling and vaulted over the back of the seat hemming her in on one side. Her giggles turned into a raucous laugh as she vanished behind the next row of seats.

Ruby blinked at the incensed Neo like a deer in the headlights, unsure what she should do now that her human barrier had vanished into thin air. She settled on holding her breath and not moving a finger. Predators could only see you if you moved, right? Right?

Neo stopped a foot away from her and glared at Ruby, desperately trying to hold on to her anger. But it was no use, Ruby’s puppy dog eyes disarmed her in seconds. She let out a sigh and rolled her eyes.

She opened her arms, tilted her head back and gestured for Ruby to step into her embrace.

Ruby accepted the sudden invitation gingerly but melted into the hug the moment she felt Neo’s arms gently wrap around her back. “I’ll be more careful,” she whispered into Neo’s hair, a promise that she’d try to keep, even knowing that she was doomed to fail. Prudence was not one of her virtues.

Neo’s arms gave her a soft squeeze.

They disentangled themselves a moment later as Yang’s voice echoed from the tunnel above them, her words were too distorted for them to make out their meaning. Though they didn’t have long to wonder before Yang and Pyrrha stepped out onto the stands to the hoots of their spectators.

Yang visibly basked in the adoration she got from the other students; she even went as far as to strike a pose for the assembled students that highlighted her well defined biceps.

She cast a last, wide smile at the group that had half of the crowd swooning and then hurried after Pyrrha who had already joined the rest of her team in the first row. The champion rarely took part in the usual outpouring of adulation after a fight, and when she did, she always looked uncomfortable to Ruby.

“Heya guys!” Yang greeted the group of friends, “Did you enjoy the show?”

“It was so impressive!” Jaune said, “I really thought you had Pyrrha there for a second. I hope Goodwitch doesn’t make me spar with you.” He said the last part quietly and wrapped his arms around himself.

“It was the bomb!” Nora cried as she jumped on Yang’s back.

“Nhhoohhr-aahh,” Yang choked out, trying and failing to loosen the arms wrapped around her neck. Her efforts only garnered her a knee to the kidneys that made her wheeze in pain.

“You’re no longer the ‘One Pump Wonder’!” Nora raised her arm high into the sky, index finger pointed straight up like the gilded weapon of a valiant knight, “From now on you shall be known as ‘Wrecking Ball’”

She yelped as a hand grabbed her by the back of her collar and pulled harshly, dismounting her from her noble steed and sending her tumbling to the floor.

Nora sat up and looked at Ren, her attacker, and grinned widely.

“Please Nora, don’t do it…” Ren implored, “Please, for the love of Dust!”

Nora’s grin just widened to scary proportions and she swivelled her head slowly in Yang’s direction.

“Because you came in like a Wreeaaaking Baaaall,” she sang dissonantly.

“No! Just no!” Ren burst out, for once dropping his calm façade. “I can’t take another semester of this!” He stormed over to Nora, grabbed her by the waist and hoisted her over his shoulder. He waved at the rest of the group, threw out a “See you tomorrow” and sprinted for the exit, leaving only echoes of Nora’s mad cackling in his wake.

Ruby glanced over at Neo and smiled at the consternated frown gracing her face. “That’s Nora for you. You’ll get used to it.” She couldn’t hold a tiny chuckle back at the cute, doubtful look Neo shot her.

“Who’s your friend?” Yang asked Ruby, nodding at Neo standing next to her.

Ruby perked up and was about to answer her sister, but Neo pre-empted her.

“I’m Neo, pleased to meet you Yang.” The scroll stated, “I’m sorry for having the scroll do the talking for me, but I’m mute.” She smiled pleasantly at Yang and offered her hand in greeting.

Ruby stared at Neo confused, that must have been the longest, grammatical correct sentence she had ever said. She scratched the back of her head and glanced from Neo to Yang and back. And she had offered her hand in greeting, she hadn’t even done that for the Headmaster. She hadn’t done that for anyone in fact!

What was going on.

Yang took the proffered hand and shook it, “Nice to meet you, Neo.”

As she did so Ruby’s eyes moved from their clasped hands up over her sister’s collapsed bracers to her impressive chest. A clammy feeling spread through her heart, could Neo be interested in her sister?

The idea wasn’t too far out there, her sister had plenty of admirers. She gritted her teeth as she reminded herself that it didn’t matter, who Neo liked was none of her business. Even if the thought of them as a couple made it hard to breathe.

“Are you a new student?” Yang asked Neo, unaware of Ruby’s internal turmoil.

Neo nodded and poked Ruby with a smile, making her jump.

“Eh, what?” Ruby asked, trying to guess where the conversation had progressed to.

“My little sister can be a bit scatter-brained sometimes,” Yang stage whispered to Neo, then added louder, “I asked Neo if she was a student here, I think she wants you to explain?”

“Yes, she’ll start tomorrow.” Ruby answered quickly, hiding her annoyance at her sister’s ribbing. “She’s my new roommate.”

Yang turned to her, lifting a single eyebrow in confusion, “You’ve got a roommate? Why? I thought your scholarship payed for everything?”

“Yeah, but Neo needed a place to stay on really short notice, so…” Ruby explained carefully, making sure that her mouth didn’t just run wild and blurt the whole story out. Her sister wouldn’t be too amused with those circumstances.

“I see,” Yang stated, turned back to Neo and scrutinized her with a far more critical eye than before. Her gaze focused in on the scroll Neo still held in her hand and her expression darkened.

“Is that Ruby’s scroll?” She wanted to know, having recognized the custom paintjob.

Neo nodded at the same time Ruby opened her mouth, “Yea, she needed a way to talk…”

“Is that so,” Yang asked calmly, her expression growing darker still. She pointed an accusing finger at Neo, “So that was you I was chatting with? I though the words felt a bit off coming from Ruby.”

The ends of her hair started to simmer as she advanced on Neo.

“Who the fuck gave you the right to impersonate my sister.”

Neo shied away from the furious blonde, matching her step for step until she bumped into the railings. She raised her hands to shield her face as Yang brandished her balled fists.

“Stop it Yang!” Ruby shouted and flung herself in front of Neo, “I gave Neo my scroll and I asked her on Saturday to cancel our plans. She did just what I asked her to do!”

She held Yang’s blazing stare, not even flinching at the heat it contained. She knew how Yang ticked, her sister had a hair trigger temper, but she rarely got physical. Her glowing hair and red eyes were usually more than enough to convince people to back off.

Most people knew better than to risk getting into a fight with someone with such an obvious aura.

After a few seconds Yang floundered, just as she had expected, and the red slowly drained from her eyes. Her sister ground her teeth for a moment, eyes moving between Ruby and the Fae cowering behind her.

She sighed and combed her fingers through her lustrous mane. “And how did she come to be your roommate, Ruby?” She asked, exhaustion showing through her words as the exertions of the battle crept up on her.

Ruby nervously tapped her index fingers together, “Headmaster Ozpin asked…”

Yang eyed her sceptically, “Really, Ruby?”

“Yes,” Ruby bobbled her head up and down, “We had a meeting with him just now,” she said and pointed back towards the administrative building.

She changed the direction she was pointing in after a breath, realising that she was off by a bit.

“Neo registered just now, so they had no free room in the dorms anymore… So…”

Yang let out a long, pained exhale of air, “So you decided to volunteer your stuff, just like always. And I guess there is little that can be done about it now.”

She glared at Neo, who peeked over Ruby’s shoulder and took Ruby by the hand, guiding her away from the intruder into her sister’s home.

She gently grabbed Ruby by the shoulders and caught her eyes. “Look, I don’t want to be the mean, overbearing big sister,” she shot another glare at Neo, “but please, please be careful? You can never tell with people.”

She embraced Ruby, ignoring the moment of reluctant stiffness from her sister until she gave in.

With her mouth close to Ruby’s ear she whispered a final warning, “If she does anything suspicious, please tell me. I… I just worry for you.”

Ruby nodded, afraid her voice would crack, disentangled herself from her sister’s warm embrace and returned to Neo, but not before offering a last heartfelt gratulation, “You looked like a real Huntress down there.”

She took Neo’s hand and pulled her towards the exit, her heart aching from the almost imperceptible tremble she felt when their fingers intertwined.

She waved to Yang and the rest of her friends, who had given them some space when the scene started, “See you tomorrow.”


	9. First Day

“Darn, darn, darn!” Ruby repeated her incessant mantra with each breath as her feet pounded at the ground. She dashed through another group of students, ignored their yelps and outraged shouts and hurried down another seemingly endless corridor. Her head moved from side to side as she tried to catch a glimpse of the information plates next to the doors without stopping or slowing down.

She groaned as she realised that she was again in the wrong building and took a right at the next T-junction, following the arrow pointing to the exit.

She raced down the artsy, circular stairwell and darted out of the building, only faint smudges on the stairwell’s walls telling of her passing.

She had been a tad bit too fast to safely break before reaching the first step.

She came to a screeching halt in front of an information sign and hastily searched for the right building on the stylised map. She wasted a few precious seconds scanning the buildings around the red ‘You are here’ marker for the right place before she realised that she was on the entirely wrong side of the massive campus.

She cried out in anguish and then broke out into a sprint down the almost deserted path, littering the cobblestone with untold numbers of red rose petals.

And to think everything had started out so nicely.

A nice breakfast with Neo, some light discussion what they should do for sleeping arrangements; Neo had been okay with sleeping on the couch till they had the time to organise something better, claiming that this was already leagues above what she was used too. And then Neo had showed her an email from Professor Goodwitch with a revised lesson plan that included combat training first thing on Monday morning!

She had been over the moon at reading that. Sadly, she forgot to read the fine print in her excitement and had also mistook all of Neo’s alarmed handwaving for her sharing her joy. So, she had stumbled out the door with little more than a quick wave to her roommate and skipped down to the arena, only to find it completely empty.

It took her a while to find another student that could tell her what was going on. The guy with the gigantic sword on his back had smirked at her as he told her that the ‘freshies’ usually met at one of the lesser used lecture halls for some theoretic and administrative stuff first, before they headed out to the combat arena.

Luckily, he still remembered the room number from last year and could tell her with pretty good confidence where she had to go.

Now if she had only asked for actual directions and not only a room designation.

She had only realised that she had no idea where the building was after she had bid him farewell and had spent a few minutes searching for her scroll with rising panic. By the time she had remembered that Neo still had it and that she couldn’t just have it show her the way she was already cutting it quite close.

She crashed through the doors of another building, hopefully the right one, and raced down the corridor. She grinned widely when her gaze landed on an open door at the end of the hall and she almost laughed in relieve at seeing the room designation next to it.

She wouldn’t be late for her first real combat lesson in almost a decade after all.

Past the door she came to a sudden, neck breaking and wholly involuntary halt.

“No running! Miss Rose.” Professor Goodwitch barked, a crack from her ridding crop lending extra credence to her harsh rebuke.

Ruby tried to answer, to nod, to do anything, but found herself fully in the grip of her teacher’s terrifyingly strong semblance.

“Take a seat, Miss Rose.” Professor Goodwitch directed and turned away, resuming her preparations for the lesson.

The invisible force that pressed down on her from all sides suddenly disappeared and she almost fell over as it left her in an awkward, lopsided stance. She exhaled silently, glad that she was no longer the focus of the scary blonde’s ire and turned to the stadium style seating.

She did a double take as she saw another woman glaring daggers at her.

Ruby swallowed the pathetic whine that wanted to form at the back of her throat and slunk over to Weiss Schnee, steeling herself for the verbal tactical nuke that was coming her way.

“Hi Weiss,” She greeted the heiress with a timid wave. “I… eh… didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Clearly,” Weiss deadpanned, then pointed at the seat next to her, “don’t just keep standing around, dolt.”

Ruby quickly slid into the indicated seat and then stalled for time by moving as slow and clumsy as possible when she stowed her small, red and black backpack in the empty space below it. The class had to start any second now.

Sadly, Weiss was savvy of her trickery, “Why didn’t you answer my message,” Weiss demanded to know. “I just knew you would miss the addendum.”

Ruby rubbed the back of her head, embarrassed, “I kinda, sorta… don’t have it?” her voice rose at the end, indicating an unsure question.

“What does that even mean?” Weiss sighed, “Also, kinda is not a word and neither is sorta.”

Ruby shrugged and ignored her correction, “My roommate doesn’t have one and she needed it more than me. So I loaned it to her.”

“You did what?!” The Heiress almost screeched, her piercing voice loud enough to turn some heads, Professor Goodwitch’s included. “Miss Schnee, class may not have started yet, but please still refrain from causing a racket.”

“Of course, Professor. My most sincere apologies.” She turned back to Ruby and repeated her question in an angry whisper. “How can you just hand your scroll to a stranger? Don’t you know anything about cyber security?”

Ruby flinched away from her outraged glare but still tried to defend herself, “I don’t have anything important on it anyway.”

“Ha!” Weiss barked out, “as if you don’t have all your passwords saved, you dunce! That roommate of yours can access anything!” Her frown deepened, “Also, since when do you have a roommate anyway?” She shook her head before Ruby could answer the question, and muttered a quick, “doesn’t matter now,” to herself. She grabbed her designer purse and quickly dug into its seemingly endless depths.

Ruby scooted a bit closer, trying to catch a closer glimpse of the bag as her curiosity wrestled with her fear. Knowing how rich the Schnee family was the bag might very well be enchanted to hold leagues more than it should. Though before she could make out the tell-tale glimmer of runes Weiss found what she had been looking for and snapped the purse shut. She held out a boring white scroll to Ruby, pushing it in her hands when Ruby didn’t react immediately.

“That’s my second backup, I think I can life without it for now. It’s factory new. Give it to your friend, but by the love of Dust get yours back as soon as possible.”

Ruby stared at the scroll with wide, disbelieving eyes. “You are just giving me a 600 Lien scroll?” She asked utterly flabbergasted. It was even the newest model! And Weiss had just shoved it at her!

“Yes.”

“But why?”

Weiss let out a pained sigh, “Because I know from painful experience what an utmost waste of time it would be to try and convince you to do something reasonable. And—I can’t believe I’m saying this—it would be an actual academical loss if you went to prison because your roommate did something illegal with your scroll, like ordering drugs.”

Her ponytail flew every which way as she gestured wildly, completely in the claw-like grip of her rant.

“And I just know that Yang would come up with some hare-brained scheme to bust you out of prison, and Blake, the crazed social activist that she is, would just traipse along with her at the first mention of the idea. Which would leave me to find a new group of friends because a Schnee can’t be seen in public with a bunch of convicted criminals. Do you know how hard it is to find an entire group of people that do not care for the Schnee name, one way or the other? And I don’t even want to think of fa… his response.”

She paused, breathing hard.

“So please, save me the headache and just take it.” 

Ruby stared at Weiss with comically huge, round eyes, completely blindsided by the sudden rant. She cradled the scroll in soft fingers as she let a few seconds pass in case that Weiss had something more to say, but the woman just huffed, crossed her arms over her chest and faced forwards.

Barely able to grasp her luck Ruby carefully tucked the scroll into her harness. She felt herself relax imperceptibly as the familiar weight settled into the reinforced pocket. One problem solved.

“Thanks a lot, Weiss.” Ruby chirped happily, then remembered an earlier thought. “So… Weiss,” she started, still feeling a bit awkward, “Why are you in this class? I thought you said that fighting wasn’t for proper ladies.”

“Well Ruby,” Weiss turned to her and granted Ruby one of her rare smiles, “I heard you succeeded in your preliminaries. So, I thought this was the perfect time to join the programme.” Her expression darkened a good bit, “Also, that was never my opinion. Instead it is one of my fa… Jacques Schnee’s many strong convictions.” Weiss’s jaw muscles tensed slightly as she lifted her chin into the air, miming the haughty Heiress to perfection. “Over the summer I’ve come to the conclusion that our opinions on that matter are fated to differ, and that I, as the future CEO of the Schnee Dust Company should exercise my prerogative for self-determination.”

Ruby eyed Weiss with a wary expression, unsure how she should take that. She finally offered a cautious “Okay… That’s good?” afraid that even this little would light a fire under the powder keg that was any mention whatsoever of the Schnee Patriarch’s name.

“Yes,” Weiss nodded, then added in an unsure tone of voice, “I think my grandfather would approve.” The words sounded almost like a justification to Ruby. She reacted instantly and shot her friend an encouraging smile. “Of course he would! He was a dust digger in his youth, right? I think I read that he even adventured deep into uncharted territory!”

Weiss nodded and let a smile soften her grim frown, “Yes, indeed. You should see the collections of trophies in Schnee Manor. He was a genius with Myrtenaster. I hope that I’ll do his weapon proud.”

“Myrtenaster?” Ruby asked, suddenly really invested in the conversation. It was rare that she got to learn about an unknown, named weapon.

“Yes Myrtenaster,” Weiss repeated with a roll of her eyes, having noticed the sudden flareup in interest, “A Multi Action Dust Rapier.” She held up a hand to pre-empt Ruby’s begging, “I don’t have it with me as there will be no fighting in todays lesson. And unlike you I’m not running around with a heavy, deadly weapon full of volatile dust for the fun of it.”

Ruby opened her mouth to respond to Weiss’s barb, but anything she wanted to say was drowned out by the bell indicating the start of the lesson. She quickly shut her mouth and faced forwards, her knees bouncing with giddy anticipation. This was going to be great!

“Just a moment please,” Professor Goodwitch requested as the bell died down. “Our guest lecturer will be here any moment.” She ignored the questioning glances the students shot her and instead leaned against her lectern with crossed arms, daring anyone to break the silence to ask a question.

A moment later all the eyes swivelled over to the door as it fell shut with a soft noise.

“Please excuse my tardiness,” Headmaster Ozpin asked genially as he leisurely walked over to Professor Goodwitch, greeting his colleague quietly.

After he exchanged a few words with the professor he moved front and centre of the stage, squared his shoulders and folded his hands over the knob of his cane. He smiled serenely at the many students and let a few more moments pass by as he took in the youthful crowd.

“I welcome you to this first lesson of the combat course. All of you have your very own reason why you stepped on this path. Some of you wish to learn how to defend yourself, others wish to join the ranks of the tournament fighters or the army, and a few are here just out of curiosity. While this is all fine and good, today I wish to lay a new cause at your feet with the hope that some of you might take it up.”

He paused to look at the students, catching their eyes and weighing them for some unseen quality.

“As you may now, Beacon University is one of the few places that still trains Huntsmen.” He let go of the cane and moved his hands low, quietening the sudden din of the crowd.

“I know this might be a controversial subject to you. You have probably all heard the claims of the program’s opponents: That it is archaic, racist, unneeded and unwanted.” The headmaster paused for effect, to let the words sink in, then continued with renewed strength in his voice.

“Today, I wish to offer you a different view. I won’t take much of your time and you will still have plenty left for the courses’ necessary administrative parts, so that you can start your hands-on training on Wednesday.”

He waited again to let the hubbub die down, then continued with his speech, Ruby hanging on to every one of his words. “To my detractors I say this: Huntsmen are still needed. There are still threats out there deep in the wild that can’t be defeated by the rigid might of the Atlasian military. Bandit tribes that prey on the border villages, criminals with powerful semblances, the creatures of Grimm and yes, malicious Fae with powers beyond peer.”

“These threats lay in wait out there, circle us like wolves and wait for the soldiers to march the other way so that they can spring their teeth into the flesh of the innocent.” He raised a fist into the air, “And yes, I included the Fae in this list, just as my detractors claim, but I include them in the same breath as humans, then evil intent knows no boundaries, is not unique to one single race.”

He let some of his fervour drain from his voice as he quieted down, “But the Huntsmen are not just warriors. They are scouts, adventurers, detectives, healers and even postmen. They make sure that even the smallest villages are protected, represented and under the umbrella of royal law.”

He lifted a warning finger, “Thus, the path of the Huntsman is not for everybody. To walk it is a great responsibility. Often times you will have to face great resistance and your actions will have far reaching consequences. An enemy not faced out of fear or slovenliness might result in the deaths of hundreds, the loss of entire villages.”

Ruby leaned forwards in her seat, her eyes wide, to the annoyance of Weiss who was still sitting prim and proper in her seat.

“So, ask yourself this: Do you have the bravery, conviction and strength of heart to take up this burden? If so, know that walking down this path might very well be the greatest adventure, no, the greatest deed of your life.”

His voice returned to a normal tone, “Should I have piquet your interest, then please join Professor Port’s lecture this afternoon for a first, deeper insight in what it means to be a Huntsman.”

He returned his hands to the cane and smiled gratefully at the students, “Thank you for your patience, and I hope that my little speech convinced some of you to take up this heavy mantel.”

He bowed his head slightly, then nodded at Professor Goodwitch, “Now then, I let you return to the reason you came here for. I wish you all a good start to your school year.”

He left the room to a smattering of goodbyes and the soft mumble of excited students exchanging their opinions on the speech.

“Oh man, oh man, oh man.” Ruby repeated, “I’m so going this afternoon!” She turned to Weiss, “What about you, Weiss?”

Weiss tilted her head to the side, looking thoughtful, “It sounds… Intriguing,” Weiss admitted slowly, “Specialists—That’s what we call Huntsmen in Atlas—are well respected in the higher echelons.”

Ruby grinned widely at the Heiress and pawed at her hands, “Yes, we’ll be the bestest Huntress team ever! Partner!”

Weiss pulled her hands from Ruby’s greedy grasp and pinched the bridge of her nose in mild frustration, “I haven’t agreed yet.”

“But you will,” Ruby rebutted Weiss, shooting her a toothy grin.

Weiss sighed but didn’t refute Ruby’s claim.

A moment later the crack of a whip resounded through the room, bringing the many private conversations to a grinding halt. Eyes snapped forwards where they were met by a piercing glare from behind a pair of sharp glasses.

Professor Goodwitch frowned at the assembled students, “I expect your utmost attention in this class. We will fight with live weaponry and I will not tolerate any carelessness or inattention. Furthermore, my word is the law in this room or the arena.” The ‘and anywhere else’ went unsaid but was still heard by everyone in the room.

She snapped her whip, the bang made most of the assembled students jump. “If you break these rules, I will kick you out.”

Another snap.

“If you have a problem with these rules, I will kick you out.”

A third snap.

“If you want to discuss these rules, I will kick you out. Is that clear?” The professor asked sounding deadly serious.

Ruby gulped nervous but nodded her head with the rest of the students, suddenly a bit worried about what she got involved with.

Her bout of fear vanished momentarily, together with the scary expression on Professor Goodwitch’s face, and was quickly replaced by her previous giddiness. Soon, very soon, she’d get to fight and show of her skills.

She caressed the folded up form of Crescent Rose hanging from her harness and whispered quietly to her darling, “We’ll blow them right off their feet, won’t we sweety?”

“Ruby, I can’t even…” Weiss huffed, but let the rest go by unsaid at seeing Ruby’s teasing grin.

Ruby chuckled to herself. This worked every single time.


	10. Light's Crusade

“Are you coming to Lunch with me?” Ruby asked Weiss as they trundled out of the classroom, Ruby leading the way with a morose expression on her face. Weiss had been right, and they hadn’t had the opportunity to show off their weapons. They only went over mountains of paperwork, warnings and release forms that would abdicate the university’s responsibility for any and all injuries incurred during the class.

Afterwards they had just enough time to describe their weapons on a boring form for the school, the act of reducing her sweetheart to only so much ink on a piece of soulless paper had drained all the joy out of her.

“I’m meeting up with Neo, my roommate,” She added the later part after seeing Weiss’ confused expression. “I’ll get my scroll back then,” she tried to entice Weiss.

The heiress snapped off a sharp nod, “Yes, I think I shall take a look at this person.”

“Your going to love her!” Ruby piped up, suddenly much happier now that thoughts of Neo had replaced the nasty aftertaste of all that paperwork that still clouded her mind.

Weiss raised a single eyebrow, “I doubt that.”

Ruby lazily waved her concerns off with her hand, “That’s just because you don’t know her yet!” She grabbed Weiss’ hand and dragged her off towards the exit. “The faster you’ll get to know her, the faster you’ll like her!”

A few scant minutes the pair stumbled into the largest of the numerous cafeterias on university grounds, Weiss berating Ruby for dragging her around while the younger girl was slowly scanning the interior of the large hall, only lending half an ear to the screeching tirade.

She had heard that one before.

Plenty of times, in fact.

She perked up as she recognised straight, dichromatic coloured hair at the farther end of the cafeteria. Ruby squared her shoulder and dragged Weiss deep into the mob of people. She ignored the outraged yelp that sprung forth from her friend’s lips and kept her eyes on her prize. She snaked her way through the crowd with well practiced ease, Weiss trailing behind her like a buoy in water.

“Hi Neo,” Ruby greeted her roommate when they managed to burrow their way through the mass of people waiting in line for the buffets. She waved at Neo with the hand that was not currently wrapped around Weiss’ wrist.

She felt a bit silly and over the top for a moment, but quickly pushed that notion out of her head. She had always greeted her friends like this.

Neo’s eyes met Ruby’s gaze and as she did so her lips pulled into a wide smile. She returned Ruby’s wave with a small one of her own. The little movement of her hand put an extra bit of surety in Ruby’s step. See, completely normal.

Okay, maybe keeping it up for this long wasn’t, she faintly considered as she slid into the seat next to Neo, finally dropped her hand and let go of Weiss.

But luckily for her no one would notice; they’d just think it was her usual silliness or something.

She leaned in the direction of Neo’s seat and grinned at her friend. “So how was it?” she asked, suddenly realising that she hadn’t even asked Neo what class she wanted to visit this morning. A frown appeared on her face that lasted for barely a moment before it was hidden in Neo’s pink hair.

The girl had literally thrown herself at Ruby in her desperate attempt to get a hug in.

“Uh… This bad?” Ruby asked worriedly.

Neo nodded, then shook her head and finally ended it all with a shrug from her thin shoulders. She held on for another few heartbeats after that before she slowly let go of Ruby and went for the red and black scroll lying on the table.

“Was okay,” the scroll blared after a moment, lightening the burden of worry on Ruby’s shoulders a fair bit. “Exhausting.” She waved her hand around in a circle, indicating the room at large. “Many people.”

Ruby nodded, a soft look on her face. She understood.

Before she could offer a word of sympathy Weiss cleared her throat.

Ruby glanced over at Weiss and froze; she knew that look. Weiss wanted something from her, and it was one of the things Weiss thought Ruby should know herself.

The Heiress’ eyes that swivelled from her to Neo and back gave her the needed clue. She slapped a hand against her forehead and groaned. Yeah, right, introductions!

She took Neo’s fingers in her own and pointed over to Weiss. “Neo meet Weiss Schnee. Weiss meet Neo.”

“Pleased to meet you, Neo.” Weiss said graciously.

Neo eyed Weiss curiously, her gaze drifted from her sharp, aristocratic features over the out of place scar crossing her eye to the white hair. Her eyes went wide in realisation and she turned to Ruby, gesturing frantically at Weiss with her unoccupied hand.

Ruby nodded with a wry smile, “yes, one of those Schnee.” She lifted her hand and stage whispered to Neo just loud enough to ensure that Weiss would hear them, “But don’t let it intimidate you, she is a big softy.”

“Ruby,” Weiss sighed as she dropped her head into her hands. She shook off her embarrassment quickly and only a long, deep breath later raised her head to glower at Ruby. “Don’t forget to get your scroll back.” Weiss barked.

“Case in point,” Ruby grinned and pulled the scroll Weiss had gifted her from her harness. “This is a gift from Weiss. So that you have a scroll of your own.”

Neo accepted the scroll with a puzzled frown and glanced over to Weiss, but the Heiress had used the moment of inattention to school her face into a blank expression.

Neo returned her eyes to the scroll and turned it on with a gingerly flick. The device lit up in seconds and the prompt for the first start setup appeared. Neo smiled widely and sent a grateful nod in Weiss direction. She felt that this wasn’t a big enough token of her gratitude and picked up Ruby’s scroll. She quickly typed out a ‘thank you, Weiss, Ruby’ and handed the device back to Ruby. She let her fingers trail over Ruby’s as she pulled back.

Then she remembered something and snapped the scroll back out of Ruby’s slack fingers. She held up a single finger of her own and started typing another message.

“Pin: 379601. Change it.” The scroll dictated, already back in Ruby’s grasp.

Ruby watched her consternated, “You set a pin?”

Neo nodded.

“But why?” Ruby wanted to know.

Neo rolled her eyes, grabbed the small bag Ruby had loaned her and pressed it against her chest, her arms wrapped securely around it.

“To keep it safe?” Ruby hazarded a guess.

Neo nodded and returned her attention back to the start up process running on her new scroll.

“You were right Ruby; I like her already.” Weiss said, the words sounding awfully smug

Ruby just grumbled something unintelligible in response and fished a chocolate chip cookie from her harness’ emergency pouch, dreading the fact that she now had to remember a pin. She doubted either of the women at the table would let her unset it for now without throwing a humongous fit.

“Hey sis, Weiss! …Neo” Yang greeted a while later. “I’ve got some Blake news.” She added as she flopped down onto the free seat on the other side of Ruby, “A certain kitty cat snagged the last of the salmon, leaving not even a single scrap for us behind.”

“Your awful puns were the only thing I did not miss in Atlas.” Weiss sighed and pulled a chair out from the table for Blake who had her hands full with her heaping tray. “Hi Blake.”

“I agree,” Blake said with a thankful nod to Weiss, “Hello everyone. Also, I’d like to point out that you were ahead of me in the line.”

“Jup, and I could feel the daggers you were staring at my back the entire time.” Yang retorted with a teasing grin, “I didn’t want to start a catfight in the middle of the cafeteria, no matter how tempting it was.”

But Blake didn’t bite, instead she piled a huge chunk of salmon on her fork and guided it carefully past her lips. She moaned quietly around the forkful of fish, bringing Yang’s attempt at a conversation to an abrupt halt.

Ruby looked over to Neo as she felt the other girl pull on the sleeves of her red hoodie. Neo pointed a quick finger at the line for the food, one eyebrow raised high.

Ruby nodded with a faint smile; the line had shrunk a fair bit while they waited for the rest of their friends. “Yes, let’s get something to eat,” Ruby said, pushed her chair back and rose from the table, pulling Neo with her. “Weiss?”

“Yes, Ruby. I’m coming with you.”

“We’ll have to hurry a bit.” Weiss said as she caught up to Ruby and Neo. She pushed past the pair and filed into the line, frowning at the people in front of her.

“Why?” Ruby asked. The lunch breaks at the university usually lasted an hour, plenty of time for most students to eat and even do some schoolwork afterwards.

Weiss tapped her foot against the ground in a quick, incessant rhythm. “Professor Port’s lecture takes place in one of the original buildings. We’ll have to walk halfway across the campus, and I’m not running in these shoes.” She focused Ruby with a heated glare, “Again!”

“Sorry…” Ruby muttered, her head down between her shoulders.

“By the way, what class are you missing because of Professor Port’s lecture?”

“Oh… Hmm,” Ruby furrowed her brow, “I’m not sure.” She finally admitted, her cheeks slightly dusted with red. “I left a bit in a hurry this morning.” Her words got quieter and quieter until they finally trailed off.

Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose but refrained from saying anything.

Neo squeezed Ruby’s hand to get the other girl’s attention. When she was sure that she had it she mimed writing on a keyboard with her free hand. Ruby cocked her head to the side, then perked up. She smiled at the sly wink that Neo shot her, then turned to Weiss.

“Advanced programming,” She bounced on the toes of her heavy boots and grinned widely.

“Isn’t that a necessity for you to graduate?” Weiss asked, her near permanent frown deepened a bit. She took a few steps forwards as the line advanced but kept her eyes on Ruby.

“Nah,” Ruby waved her concern off, “It’s not required. I just thought it would be useful. I can take it sometimes later if I want.”

“Oh, okay. If you say so.”

“What are you missing?” Ruby asked.

“Political Science,” Weiss circled her wrist and tapped the inside of her palm with a few fingers. She bit her lower lip for a moment but then shook her head. “History of Huntsmen apparently fulfils the requirement for Introduction to History, PolSci and Geography.” She paused and eyed her friends for a second, “Does that seem strange to you? That a single course provides the same credit as three others?”

Ruby shook her head. “Not really. I mean you heard Headmaster Ozpin, Huntsmen have to know about all this boring kingdom stuff and where to find what.” She sighed deeply, “I bet it will be crazy hard.”

Neo just shrugged with her nose buried in her new scroll, tapping away at the virtual screen.

Weiss hummed. “I guess you could be right.”

Thanks to Weiss insistent prodding they arrived with plenty of time at the door to the room where Professor Port would hold his lecture, and they didn’t even have to run. Though Ruby hadn’t been to happy when Weiss had dragged her away from the table and had cut her retelling of Headmaster Ozpin’s speech short.

“Let’s take a seat at the front.” Weiss said and pulled Ruby back by the hood of her top.

“But Weiss…” Ruby shot her patented puppy-dog eyes at Weiss, “It’s history. I don’t know anything about history! I don’t want to be asked questions!” Her speech grew faster with every word, lending further strength to her wide-eyed stare.

But Weiss didn’t budge. She turned away from Ruby and dragged her into the exact middle of the first row. She sat down on one of the uncomfortable looking wooden chairs and pointed to the one next to her with a sharp motion. “Sit.”

Ruby followed the rough command like the animal she had mimed earlier, her figurative tail firmly between her legs. “Meany.” She muttered under her breath.

Weiss pretended not to hear her.

Professor Port cast an impressive figure in his double-breasted burgundy suit. The golden buttons and trim seemed a bit out of place for Beacon University, but they fitted the overall image of the greying professor rather well.

He struck a pose in front of the numerous large maps of Remnant that plastered one part of the front wall and that might be one of the reasons why the lecture took place in this out of the way hall. It was unlikely that they were ever removed, or that such a feat could even be achieved without ruining the yellowing maps completely.

He scrutinised the assembled students with an open face and laughed jovially once his gaze slipped off the last one. “Marvellous, just marvellous to see so many young, hopeful faces here, awaiting the knowledge of the past!”

Weiss turned her head to the side, catching a glimpse of the seats further back. She frowned; the number of students hadn’t changed since they walked into the room. There were twenty others at best and the lot looked almost lost in the large lecture hall that could probably seat ten times as many without violating fire code.

“Now then, I’m Professor Peter Port, a huntsman of quiet some renown and as you know I will teach you all that you need to know about the important parts of history filtered through the eyes of a man that lived it!”

Weiss frown turned a touch sceptic. Ruby’s smile on the other hand grew wider with every word.

“To start off our marvellous journey down memory lane I devised some interesting questions that will test the knowledge you have amassed so far in your lives. Now first let us travel through the kingdoms…”

What followed were a long list of rather boring questions that Ruby promptly tuned out and which Weiss answered. Her ears only perked up when the ‘marvellous’ journey returned to something closer to home.

“But Huntsmen do not only need to be well travelled! Ha, no they also need to be marvellous fighters. And as they say, and as I have proven on numerous occasions, knowledge is half the battle. So, let us talk about some of the countless horrific creatures you will face, and best, in your long career as Huntsmen.”

He lumbered over to an old-school overhead projector and turned it on. Professor Port then picked up a slim folder and slipped a first slide on top of the projector.

The wall lit up with the depiction of various mangy looking animals, some of them burning and others webbed with ice-like veins.

He extended his arms in a wide gesture and pointed at the twisted animals. “Can anyone hazard a guess about these fiends?”

He swivelled his extended hand over and pointed at Weiss, who had politely raised her hand. “Yes, miss?”

“Miss Schnee, Weiss Schnee.” She said, her back ramrod straight, “And those are normal animals that suffer from Dust corruption.”

“Marvellous,” Professor Port said and clapped his hands, as he had done for all the other correct and incorrect answers. “You are correct, Miss Schnee, though I guess that it is no surprise that a descendant of the great Nicholas Schnee would know about matters pertaining to Dust. A marvellous man I had the pleasure to fight side by side on a few occasions. A deft hand he was with that rapier of his. Once he even felled a Boarbatusk with a single swipe!”

Weiss leaned forwards at the mention of her grandfather, a faint smile appeared on her lips. After a moment she straightened back out and tried to hide it. But it had already been too late. Ruby had seen it, as her soft snicker proofed.

“But sadly, that is a story for another time.” He returned his arms behind his back and squared his shoulders, looking to the world like an old sergeant. “As Miss Schnee has pointed out, these are normal animals that came into close contact with Dust infused foods for a long time. The elemental properties of the Dust have twisted these poor creatures into the horrors you see before you. They are as dangerous as they are mad and are a threat to even the most valiant of Huntsmen.”

He switched out the slides several times, each one of them showing some kind of different threat to sapient life. Some of them caused by dust, others Fae and some unspoken horrors from times long past.

Ruby took them all in with wide, faintly glowing eyes, her lips drawn into an excited, almost adoring smile.

“With a fair bit of luck, you shall never face the fearsome, fire-breathing dragon!” Professor Port stated as he swapped the slides for a final time.

“Dragons, right…” Weiss scoffed as the crudely drawn image of the beast slipped from view, only to be replaced by images of inky blackness turned alive. Everyone knew that dragons had died out long before even the Exodus.

“But these, you will face for sure!” He stated with a booming voice that woke some of the few students from the torpor they fell victim to at the mention of the unlikely monsters that still prowled the wilds, according to Professor Port.

“Grimm!” His voice echoed from the high rafters.

“What do you know about them?” He asked the students.

Plenty of students raised their hands. Grimm were a common threat on the fringes of the kingdoms and featured often in the daily news broadcasts. To not know of them you’d have to live under a rock.

“Yes, you young man.” Professor Port said and pointed at one of the students sitting at the back.

“Grimm are demons left behind on Remnant during the Exodus. They are bad emotions given form and prey on people. They are attracted to negative emotions.”

“That is common knowledge,” Port nodded, “And also wrong, partially at least. There is no evidence of any Grimm activity before or around the time of the Exodus, they only appeared much later. Furthermore, we actually do not know what they are made of, but you are right that they are attracted to negative emotions and physical pain.” His eyes roved from side to side as he explained this, taking in the students sitting in audience.

“Does anyone else know anything more about Grimm?”

All but one of the hands vanished from sight, leaving only Weiss’ behind.

“Yes, Miss Schnee?”

“The first mention of a Grimm sighting takes place at the height of the Light’s Crusade.” She offered him a tight-lipped smile, more a grimace really and continued, “It is rumoured that the Grimm were a last ditch defence employed by the hunted Fae that went out of control when to many of the summoners were slain by the rampaging crusaders.” She shook her head imperceptibly, “Though nothing could be proven so far.”

“Marvellous answer, Miss Schnee.” Professor Port said in a sombre voice.

Ruby raised her hand just slightly over her head, her fingers half curled up. She eyed Weiss at her side carefully, her face showing indecision.

“Yes, miss?”

“Ruby Rose,” She said with an awkward smile, “Eh… What is the Light’s Crusade?”

Weiss turned towards her; eyebrows lifted high. “You don’t…?” Ruby shrunk back from her perplexed stare, one buttock almost slipping past the rim of her seat.

“Do not feel bad Miss Rose,” Professor Port said over the murmur of the class, “You are far from the only one in this room that hasn’t heard of it yet. You are just the only one brave and curious enough to admit your ignorance, traits every good Huntsman should have!” He turned off the overhead projector and put aside the last slide. He walked over to the wall opposite the one plastered with countless maps and pointed at a portrait of a blond man sporting a mane of golden locks that would even spark envy from Yang.

The locks framed a handsome face with a pair of piercing blue eyes and an almost chiselled jaw. He wore his proud, almost arrogant expression surprisingly well. Though it might have been the few scars marring his face that put him firmly on the side of proud warrior instead of arrogant fob.

“This is William the Lion, Grandmaster and instigator of the Light’s Crusade. He was a great warrior, maybe the strongest of his generation, and an exceedingly pious man. He yearned for the reopening of the Heavenly Gate as he believed that only then the souls of the departed could end their ceaseless wandering and enter the domain of the holy light.”

The professor turned back to his class; one finger raised in a warning gesture.

“He started out with good intentions, but with time those ideals led him down the darkest paths. With every failed attempted to entice the light back to Remnant he grew more zealous, until one day he concluded that the Fae were to be blamed for the absence of light. That their ‘twisted’ nature was what held the Heavenly Gate firmly closed.”

Ruby winced at the way he talked about Fae and she wasn’t the only one considering the swell in background noise.

“Thousands flocked to William’s banner when he started to spread his gospel of hate, and under his tutelage they turned into a powerful fighting force. After a few years they were strong enough to start their bloody work, butchering entire villages of peaceful Fae under the banner of the Radiant Sun.”

He tapped the fingers of his right hand against the crest of a stylized sun on the lapel of William’s coat.

“His army wasn’t very discriminating in their choice of targets and turned their sword often against their fellow man. Sometimes because they harboured Fae, other times because they looked off, whatever that meant.” He sighed and walked back to the centre of the stage. “Many good Huntsmen fell in those dark times defending innocent Fae.” He paused for a long while with his head lowered.

“But they got stopped, right? The Huntsmen bested them?” Ruby asked, sounding hopeful.

Professor Port shook his head. “No, by the time the Huntsmen banded together so many scoundrels had joined the crusade to enrich themselves that they outnumbered even the Kingdom of Atlas’ army.”

He shook his head again.

“No, the Lion’s bloody rampage ended only when he and hundreds of his most loyal soldiers suddenly vanished.” He mimed an explosion with his hands. “From one day to the next they were just gone, and no one could find even a trace of them. Some of the officers in the crusade claimed that he and his loyal followers were allowed through the Heavenly Gate for their pious service to the light. These claims pushed the violence to a new high, as others wished to follow in their footsteps. Though without the Lion’s tactical genius and strength of character the crusade splintered into a dozen, independent pieces.”

Professor Port slapped a meaty fist into the palm of his other hand.

“Some of those bastards found their rightful end at the tip of a Huntsman’s sword. While others fell prey to hordes of shadowy fiends that later came to be called the creatures of Grimm. But most of them just returned to their old lives as the progress of the crusade started to falter.”

An expression of heartfelt pain flashed over his face.

“The kingdoms were in too much turmoil and the Huntsmen to few in number as that they could spare the men to hunt down these evildoers. Especially considering the danger the sudden appearance of the Grimm posed for the many smaller villages all through the Kingdoms.”

He returned his attention to Ruby who met his look with a sad one of her own.

“I hope that answers your question, for now. We’ll return to this dark chapter in history at a later date. To discuss at what point the Huntsmen should have acted to prevent this tragedy.”

Ruby just nodded her head in a jerky motion.

“Well then…” He glanced at the clock above the door, “The bell will ring any moment now. I hope you enjoyed this intro into the History of Huntsmen, and that you’ll return next week for more.”

He smiled jovially at the assembled students. “I wish all of you a marvellous week!”

As Ruby started to slowly gather her stuff, her eyes unfocused and her mind far away, some of the other students already barged out the doors, clearly less affected by what they had heard than Ruby.

“Do you want to walk back with me?” Weiss asked, startling Ruby from her thoughts.

“Ye… No.” Ruby shook her head with an apologetic smile. “I need to speak with Velvet, and I don’t have her scroll number. I only know that she’s a TA for Advanced Programming, so I need to catch her when she leaves the lecture hall.” Ruby’s hands suddenly flew over the pens and papers strewn all across her desk.

“See you tomorrow, k? Bye.” She said a moment later and dashed off, sending Weiss’ notes to the floor in tornado of rose petals.

Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes. She sighed, frustration painting her face.


	11. Death, Destroyer of Worlds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has a linebreak. What comes after might be triggering to people who dislike BDSM or violence.  
> Consider yourself warned.

“What a waste,” Ruby muttered and gave the pebble a good kick, sending it bouncing further down the path towards her home. She caught up to it in a moment and kicked it again. The sole of her boot dragged over the rough pavement and the rasping sound made her wince. She propped the toe of her shoe against the ground and nearly bent her neck into a pretzel to check the sole out over her shoulder.

A shrug later saw her back on her sluggish way to her apartment.

Neo would wonder where she was, Ruby mused. Her roommate knew her timetable better than she did and would notice that she took longer than usual to get home. Especially as she used her semblance the last few days to get back as soon as possible.

But today that was not an option.

Combat class had only ended a few minutes ago and she hadn’t yet recovered from the strain.

She hit the pebble with more force, sending it flying down the path with speed. She held her breath for a moment, then faintly grinned as the pebble came to a stop only a few centimetres after her turn. Not too far for her exhaustion.

The class had been brutal. Not because of the fights, but because of the exercises Professor Goodwitch demanded they do. Not everyone had to do the same ones, though, they had clearly been tailored to fit their individual semblances.

Ruby herself had been tasked to run as fast as she could, for as long as she could, carrying as much as she could. So, she had spent much of the lecture running in circles on the wall of the arena, her harness weighted down by as many training weights as the sadistic Professor could find.

Ruby sighed, no that was a lie. She had seen the weights her sister trained with.

By the time Professor Goodwitch had called for an end to their torture Ruby had been utterly exhausted. Spent. Devoid of aura. Which for her meant a lovely trip to the university hospital gardens to enjoy the roses and take in the fresh air.

Her face twitched, almost forming an unconvincing smile.

It didn’t matter, there wasn’t anyone around anyway. The class went far into the afternoon and the other, not bone-weary students had already vanished into their homes for food and relaxation.

Only the birds were still out, and even their gay song had lost some of its vigour by this time.

When Ruby had stumbled to a stop before Goodwitch she had thought that they were released for now. The entire ordeal had felt like a test to her. A test that had been specifically tailored for her. She had felt the Professor’s eyes on her back the entire time she had run her mindless circles.

So, she had been quite surprised when the blonde had announced that they would spar for the rest of the lesson. Considering the sudden roar of outrage that had crashed over her shoulders like some form of demented tidal wave she hadn’t been the only blindsided student.

They had given their all.

Professor Goodwitch had just smiled at that. Her sadistic, tight-lipped, little smile that promised punishment of the corporal kind to anyone stupid enough to go against her demands.

No one had.

Ruby took a quick lunge and trapped the wayward pebble before it could roll of the pavement into the green lining her way.

So, they had spared, and Ruby had won.

But it had been a sad affair, a far cry from the epic first fight she had imagined the entire previous night. Non of them had the energy left to activate their semblance, the energy meters would have dipped into the red in an instant, losing them the fight.

So, it had come down to their marksmanship, which Ruby excelled at. This meant that people with melee only weapons were out in an instant. Some hadn’t even bothered to take a battle stance.

Surprisingly, Professor Goodwitch didn’t even reprimand them. That probably meant that there was a lesson in there, somewhere.

The last fight had pitted Ruby against a girl with a submachine gun that turned into a sword. Or a sword that turned into a submachine gun? She shook her head. Didn’t matter.

She had only won because she had used her first shot to send herself flying, dodging the first, fully automatic spray of dust infused bullets. The girl could only stare at Ruby in surprise as the hammer of her rifle slammed into an empty chamber. Not a single one of the thirty something bullets had hit her mark.

She had even fumbled for a full magazine in a desperate attempt to reload before she would hit the ground. Ruby respected that and put her out of her misery as painlessly as possible with a tidy shot to her shoulder.

Professor Goodwitch had commended her for her strategy of first defending and only striking when her enemy was defenceless. The praise had taken some of the sting from the slight sunburn the professor’s intense scrutiny had caused.

She shuddered at the memory. She had felt like a bug on a felt mat with a needle hovering over her ready to skewer her in place.

A hollow victory and an empty aura were all the second day of combat classes had garnered her.

She kicked the pebble with force born from frustration and watched it fly of the path into the underbrush.

And now she even lost her pebble. She liked that pebble.

The door fell closed behind Ruby with barely any noise. Slamming it shut would have been more satisfying after this day, but she just didn’t have the energy to spare. She stumbled past Neo sitting at the dinner table doing some schoolwork and slumped down on the couch.

“Hi Neo,” Ruby greeted belatedly. A sole eye opened and fell on Neo. She smiled, her roommate had heard her, she hadn’t been too sure about that as her voice had been really muted by Neo’s pillow.

She hugged it a bit tighter to her face and sighed. It smelled like Neo.

Ruby twitched her head, her eyebrows drawn together. “Why do you smell different?” She wondered out loud.

Neo shared her strawberry scented shower gel.

With her head pressed into the pillow she couldn’t see Neo’s shrug, but she did notice when the girl set down her pen and pushed her chair back. Perked ears tracked Neo’s progress across the room until she reached the couch and gingerly sat down on the edge.

She prodded Ruby’s side with a gentle finger and pushed her back flush against Ruby, following her as the tired girl scooted closer to the backrest.

“Hard day?” Neo asked through her scroll.

Ruby frowned into her soft cushion, not entirely sure what she should think of the new voice. It was livelier, less train station announcer and more friendly receptionist, but it still didn’t sound like what Ruby imagined Neo’s voice to sound like.

Belatedly, she realised that Neo was still waiting for an answer and muttered something unintelligible into her velvety, Neo-scented cloud.

She petted it a bit. It was a good pillow; it might even be enough to replace her pebble.

A moment later she sent the cushion flying, a piercing shriek its only companion on its graceful flight across the room. Ruby’s frantic hands moved every which way in her attempt to fend of Neo’s tickling fingers that sought out her weak spots with scary accuracy.

“Ha, please…” Ruby tried to force out between puffs of pained laughter, “Please, ha. Stop.”

The torture continued for a moment longer, then Neo took mercy on the tired redhead and ceased her assault. She met Ruby’s eyes and waggled her index finger in front of her nose.

A wide grin broke her tight-lipped seriousness as Ruby nearly went cross-eyed trying to track her finger. Sudden inspiration hit her, and she bopped Ruby’s nose with her finger, then pulled back and unleashed the full force of her radiant, toothy smile upon the prostrate girl.

“Ah, yeah.” Ruby tried to grumble but was not quite able to hide her creeping smile. “I forgot, no mumbling when you write stuff.”

Neo nodded, trying, and failing to look serious.

“Day?” Neo asked after Ruby let her head droop once more. Red and black tresses met the fabric of the couch and she turned her head to glare at the pillow lying on the floor. She squinted her eyes in concentration, but the cushion didn’t even wiggle.

Accepting the futility of trying to will a telekinetic semblance into existence she decided to redirect her feeble amount of energy into doing something more useful and answered Neo’s question.

“Yes…” A second passed by then another. Suddenly, warm fingers pressed against her flanks and spurred her on. “Professor Goodwitch is a real bi… Eh, witch. She had us do exercises till we were dead on our feet, and then made us fight each other.”

She brushed a bunch of locks from her face, her uncovered eye met Neo’s.

“I’m completely out of juice.” Ruby sighed and forced her eyes shut.

Careful fingers combed through her hair, trailing a hint of short nails over her scalp down towards the top of her neck.

Ruby deflated as tension she hadn’t been aware of drained from her shoulders and neck.

“Are you coming with me…?” Ruby asked in a shy voice.

Neo nodded, slipped her slim scroll from her pocket, and typed away. “Better idea.” Then, she offered her exhausted roommate her free hand and, after Ruby had accepted it, pulled her upright. From her new vantage point Ruby could observe as Neo opened a text document and copied the first paragraph of many into the text to speech program.

“Okay, there is no good way to say this.” The scroll said in that just not quite right voice. “So, I’ll be direct. I want you to spank me.”

“What!?” Ruby cried and recoiled away from Neo. Already missing Neo’s warmth where her front had brushed against her friend’s back. “That won’t do anything, your aura will shield you from most of it. And I’m not going to hit a friend!”

Neo rolled her eyes, exasperation clear on her face and paused the playback. She turned around awkwardly, clamped her hand over Ruby’s mouth and ignored the yelp of surprise that replaced the barrage of words.

The hand remained in place until Ruby’s lips stopped their futile movement and only lifted after Ruby had met Neo’s eyes with a pleading, wide-eyed gaze.

“I’ll be quite.” Ruby said and mimed zipping her lips.

“I’ll drop my aura…” The playback had continued for barely a moment before it was once more interrupted by Ruby.

“You can’t!” Ruby stared at Neo as if the girl had lost her mind.

One did not just turn of their aura! You just didn’t do that!

When auras first activate, they are finicky, uncontrollable things, fizzling out the slightest provocation. Keeping them in place is akin to keeping a fist or some other muscle permanently clenched. So, the first thing anyone with an active aura learns is how to keep it up even when distracted, especially when distracted!

For most people, the required actions become habit with time, and they have it up even when they sleep. While this was great, it also meant that the majority of aura user actually couldn’t drop their aura anymore, or only with great difficulty.

And that was okay, because why would you want to lower your defences anyway? It made you vulnerable! And restarting the aura could take hours.

She herself could get her aura back up and running in ten, twenty minutes. But that was only because she had starved her aura so often that it became a necessity.

She wanted to say all that and more, but was once more cut off by Neo, so she could only mumble it into a surprisingly strong hand.

This time when the recording started up once more Neo made no moves to remove her hand from Ruby’s face.

“…With it out of the way you should be able to regain some of your strength. I’m not sure how much though. Although, it should be a fair amount considering that you said you would gain more if you were the cause of the pain. Also, I checked in with the hospital, the injuries last week weren’t too bad.” The scroll fell silent as it reached the end of the copied block and Neo was forced to take her hand from Ruby’s lips to select the next part.

“Not going to happen, nope!” Ruby said, popping the last ‘P’, “I’m not going to use—abuse—a friend like that. Nuhu.” She shook her head, whipping red tipped strands of hair every which way.

Neo let out a deep sigh and moved her hovering finger further down the prepared text. She highlighted one of the last paragraphs and copied it over into the text-to-speech app, all the while rolling her eyes at the way Ruby poked out her lips in petulant resolve.

“I want to do this for you.” The scroll said in Neo’s stead. The words forced Ruby’s lips apart as an objection grew in her mind, but before she could spell it out the monotone dictation continued, “Not because I feel like I owe you this, but because you would do the same if our positions were reversed.”

Ruby’s objection died in her throat and she snapped her mouth closed, her teeth clacked in the temporary silence between paragraphs.

“And don’t even try to deny that. That night you saved me… You put yourself in danger for a complete stranger, just because you thought it was the right thing to do. If you go to these lengths for someone you don’t even know, then I don’t think a bit of pain would deter you from helping a friend.”

“It wasn’t that dangerous…” Ruby muttered. Her words lacked all her usual conviction; fights were always dangerous, otherwise you wouldn’t call them fights. Tai, Qrow and Yang had drilled that rule into her at every chance.

A soft grin appeared on Neo’s face and she quickly inserted her next words.

“You have no idea how much that meant to me, that night. That someone would just step in with a smile and a laugh, put down those jarheads that had me cornered and then instead of vanishing back into the night actually cared for me and lifted me from that stinking alley. You were my hero!” Neo met Ruby’s eyes with an intense, prolonged stare from eyes that glistened wetly.

“Still are, really.”

Heat spread rapidly through Ruby’s cheeks and painted them a deep red, she turned her head away, no longer able to maintain their connection.

Neo’s grin grew to blinding strength, she had scored a direct hit and Ruby’s resistance was visibly crumbling. She bit her lip and carefully selected the sentences that would either brake or make the entire thing.

“I’m not asking you to throw a log at me.” Multicoloured eyebrows wiggled playfully, “Nor that you attack me with Crescent Rose. I’m asking you to spank my ass in a controlled environment. If it gets too much for either one of us—either one—we can put a stop to it immediately. Immediately.” Neo grimaced at the duplication of words, but it had been the only way to put emphasis on the words she could think of.

A quiet yelp pierced the silence that followed, prompting Neo to look up from her scroll at the source of the sound. Ruby brushed one hand through the locks at the nape of her neck and sheepishly flashed a torn cuticle at her roommate.

“Sorry, bad habit.” She said embarrassed.

“Not change subject.”

“Mhm,” Ruby worried her lips and let her thoughts wander. Her family had always wanted to help her, not unlike Neo. She had always strictly refused. But the same prompt refusal just didn’t want to come now. Someway, somehow Neo’s offer was different; with Tai, Yang and Qrow the offers had always held that tang of familial obligation. But Neo, Neo got her, got the reason why she lived her life the way she did. And she found herself completely unable to refuse an offer that she herself could have made.

As her mind wandered, ever more desperately seeking a way out that did not involve hurting her friend or denying an imagined Ruby from a parallel universe, her eyes became unmoored. Her gaze drifted from those hopeful, gleaming eyes down her thin frame and came to an abrupt halt on Neo’s behind.

Thoughts of escape came to a screeching halt and were suddenly replaced by the phantom impression of a hand caressing soft, yielding flesh.

She yelped and gave her head a vigorous shake but was not quite able to banish her luscious thoughts from the depths of her mind.

Ruby fake coughed in an attempt to cover up her second ungainly yelp in as many minutes. Though from the smug smile on Neo’s face her deception hadn’t been very successfully.

“Eh, uhm, how did you… Eh, what did you have in mind…?”

Neo immediately jumped from the couch, as if Ruby had already consented to the entire thing and raced over to the door. She locked it tight with a quick flick of her hand and as she did so shot Ruby a wink that made her blush flare back up.

The clack the scroll made when Neo pulled it from her back pocket with a pair of dainty fingers and dropped it onto the table felt deafening in the closed, silent room.

But it was only the starting shot to Ruby’s torture; she shuddered as Neo slowly prowled towards her, a pronounced swagger in every movement of her hips and a devious grin on her lips that made Ruby’s heart race.

Elegant but strong fingers pushed Ruby back in her seat, the first she noticed of her forward position. Her eyes followed the arm up to the face of its owner and her breath stalled in her chest. She felt like prey under that intense stare, like a squeaky mouse caught under the paws of a voracious, pink-haired cat.

As if she had heard Ruby’s unspoken thought Neo let herself fall onto the couch and stretched over Ruby’s lap. She squirmed a bit to get into a more comfortable position and then stilled, waiting expectantly for the frozen Ruby to thaw.

It was a while before Ruby was able to school her face and wipe the ‘doe in the headlights’ look from her face. She looked down on Neo’s behind that was all laid out on her thighs in all its pant’s clad glory.

Her hands shook visibly where she held them, a good foot away from any parts of her roommate.

After a good minute without any change a sudden metallic tang assaulted Ruby’s taste buds and a tingling sensation spread out from her lap, moved up her stiff form and raised the wispy hairs on her arms to abrupt attention.

Realisation struck her a heartbeat later and made her search for Neo’s face. She found it immediately; masked behind a devilish smirk.

Neo had dropped her aura.

This was it.

Ruby’s hands stilled.

Slowly, with the pace of an especially slow snail, her hands fell until they came to a featherlike rest on Neo’s buttocks.

Her eyes stared at the blue fabric visible between her spread fingers. She bit her lower lip.

Neo was vulnerable. More vulnerable than she had even been in that mired dead end, roused from fear induced sleep. And she had put herself into this position freely, even though she knew what a freak she was.

Her hand rose, as if of its own volition. Fingers spread, stretched until the skin on the underside turned white and burned with a fire from within.

Everything stilled for a moment, then her hand flew downwards and gave Neo’s ass a light tap.

Leather creaked as Neo let her head slump to the cushion below. She sighed heavily; her roll of her eyes hidden behind the supple fabric of her makeshift bed.

She slammed her open palm on the leather next to her. The impact was strong enough to startle Ruby from the stupor she had fell into after that first love tap and made her meet Neo’s heated glare.

Neo hit the couch a few more times, just as strong.

* * *

“Okay…” Ruby said quietly and turned back forward. She raised her hand, slid it through the mop of her hair and then, before the nerve left her, smacked Neo’s ass with it.

Her hand tingled.

She raised it again but shot Neo a quick look to check if she was alright before she spanked Neo for a third time.

A giggle made it past her lips as the butt lying at her mercy wiggled a bit. She quickly stifled it and clamped her free left arm over Neo’s lower back, preventing her from accidentally sliding of the couch.

“This isn’t so bad,” she said and readied herself for another spank.

By the fifth or sixth she started to sense it, the familiar pressure in the air that forced the vestiges of her aura tighter against her skin. By the seventh, it broke past the thin veneer of flesh and bones and surged into her core.

She almost doubled over; the rush was intense. Stronger than anything she had ever gotten from any of her trips to the hospital. A wide grin blossomed on her face and she renewed her assault.

Her hand slapped the soft flesh of Neo’s ass, and her mind rejoiced how the firm muscle yielded to her strength, how her fingers forced the pant’s clad ass into bulging furrows.

The originally lengthy pause between each slap melted like so much ice in the summer’s sun under the onslaught of delicious power. Ruby wetted her lips with her tongue, almost able to taste the heady aroma of Neo’s offered pain.

Strawberry, vanilla… chocolate.

Her chest rumbled in an uncontrollable purr.

The willing flesh clamped under her arm reared up on her next blow. She chuckled, interrupting her atonal purr for a moment, and then pressed down harder.

She overcame the feeble resistance easily.

Two, three quick slaps followed momentarily, the force of their blows echoed through the living room.

The chuckle from earlier returned as a full-blown laugh. Ruby felt glorious, truly glorious. Strong like never before, like she could wrestle a god into submission. The edges of her grin were drawn into a feral, toothy grin. The world would be hers, hers alone and with it all the quivering, mewling flesh.

“I’m coming for you all!” She cried out, chin held aloft and eyes gleaming madly.

Then she retched.

She buckled over and retched again, bile rising in her throat.

The air, so tantalising moments ago, tasted utterly vile on her tongue. Her head swivelled from side to side, her nose sniffing at the air like a bloodhound’s. After a moment she found the source of the foulness and her head tilted downwards. It came from the limp form spread out on her lap that was wracked by silent sobs.

She sneered and gave the shuddering mass a shove, sending it to the floor.

Ruby froze as Neo tumbled through the air and came to a sudden halt on the hard floor, her multicoloured hair spread around her tearstained face like a halo.

“Neo!” She keened in a high-pitched voice and followed her off the couch. Ruby wrapped her jittery hands around Neo’s shoulder and shook them. “Neo! I’m Sorry! So sorry!”

One particularly strong shake lifted her head of the floor a centimetre and sent it back down with a muted thump.

Ruby’s eyes widened and she let go of Neo’s shoulders. “Oh god! I’m sorry!” She screeched and scrambled backwards, away from Neo. Her back hit the wall with a painful bang but she didn’t pay the aura dampened pain any mind. Instead, she pulled her legs to her chest and hid her face in her knees. Her fingers dug painfully into the valley between shin and calf.

She started to cry, but not because of the physical pain.

Ruby did not know how long she had sat pressed against the wall as time had lost its importance to her. She only knew when a pair of arms wrapped themselves around her shivering form and pulled her against a warm, comfortable body.

She felt a head move against hers, tear-stained cheeks rubbed against dry, soft skin.

The warmth on her cheeks left her for a moment that felt like an eternity and the freezing cold that replaced it made her yearn for its return. She gritted her teeth and stomped on the thought. Solace was not something she deserved.

The warmth returned in the forms of a pair of feathery lips in her hair. She gasped and leaned into them, thanking them for their mercy on her wretched soul in the only way she could.

“I’m sorry,” A soulless voice said, “I shouldn’t have pressed you.”

The strangeness of the words was enough to make Ruby lift her head and faced the person hugging her. Even with tears still warping her vision she recognised Neo and the apologetic smile that graced the lips that had comforted her just moments earlier.

She gaped at Neo, wondering how the girl could stand being this close to her, after what she had done to her.

A moment later she remembered the words and divined their meaning. She blinked owlishly.

“How… Why…”

Ruby cleared her throat of the rock that was lodged firmly in there and then tried again.

“You should be furious.” She dropped her gaze to the floor, “Not sorry.”

“Warned me.” The scroll simply replied.

“I hurt you!” Ruby said, all but shouting the word ‘hurt’.

“Was plan.”

Ruby raised her eyes once more and stared disbelievingly at Neo.

“Not like that!”

Neo nodded and rapidly typed on her scroll with the hand holding it. All the while maintaining the tight embrace.

“Rushed. Badly considered.”

“I kicked the daylight out of you. When you just wanted to help me. I’m a monster.” Ruby wailed and lost the grip on the flow of her tears.

“Yes. Human. Made mistake.” The scroll said haltingly.

“Lost control. Can’t happen again. But I forgive.”

Ruby’s tears stalled for a moment as her mind grasped at the seed of hope Neo’s words had planted in her sorrowful thoughts. Could she really be forgiven?

She gazed at Neo in wonderment, a question visible in her wide, wet eyes.

Neo nodded her head with conviction and pulled Ruby closer, guiding her head to rest against her chest.

As Ruby listened to Neo’s strong, calm heartbeat she vowed to never hurt a friend like this ever again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not intend to make light of domestic violence. It's horrible, no matter what configuration it takes, but I think that this is a bit of a special case as Ruby isn't fully in control of her action and she did her best to warn Neo, prevent this from happening.


	12. Rosetta Stone

Ruby balanced the cardboard box on her hip and unlocked the door to her assigned workspace. With a quick twist and a kick from her booted foot she forced the door open and slunk through the gap she created.

Momentarily blinded by the automatic, bright, white lights that flickered to life inside room, she took a quick few stumbling steps and quickly deposited the flimsy box on the first of the free tables. She sighed in relieve as the weight was safely out of her hands, glad that the tear in its sidewall hadn’t widened any further.

Getting the parts machined had been expensive and had dipped deep into her dwindling funds. Now she was suddenly really glad that Weiss had been so generous recently.

Ruby pulled the top flaps apart and dove a hand into the box, retrieving one of the tubular shells. She swiped a finger over its cold, metallic surface and smiled.

“Perfect.” She said to herself, then her eyebrows drew together. Although maybe she could have done with a less expensive material. Especially as this was the first prototype.

The concern was shooed away a moment later with an easy gesture added for good measure.

She hadn’t screwed up a prototype in years.

More gleaming parts joined the first on the table as Ruby unpacked the box, a faint smile firmly in place on her pursed lips.

When the box was empty she tossed it to the floor and stomped it with her boots till it was as flat as one of Ren’s pancakes—which weren’t that flat actually—and threw it at the bin in the corner like a frisbee.

It was a shame; it had been a good box: perfect size and the bottom was extra thick. Sadly, there was no use in keeping it, as it would break any moment now. She forced a bit of air through her teeth and glared at the nearly empty, pink stained bottle of strawberry soda by the sink.

Now she would have to find a new box. As if she had time for mundane stuff like that. She had wonders to build.

Maybe Blake had one to spare. A small giggle made it past her lips.

She shook her head free from the silly thought of Blake sitting in a cardboard box, scowling over the brim at anyone coming close to her and walked over to her lockable cabinet. A quick flash of her key card unlocked it and revealed her many finished and almost finished treasures to the unhealthy overhead light. She picked up a bunch of circuit boards and closed the cabinet doors again.

It was so cool that they allowed students to use the expensive circuit printers during off hours, and she had been really lucky that the idea for this thing had struck her this early in the semester. Otherwise she would have had to wait for months until she would have gotten a free time slot.

On the way back to the table she grabbed a soft, anti-static mat and placed it and the electronic parts down on the table. She unclipped her favourite headphones from her harness and put some music on, then she got to work slotting the fiddly parts into each other, her fingers dancing in the rhythm of the fast music.

Half an hour later, Ruby clicked the last plate into place with a satisfied smile. Now she only had to tighten the lone screw and the project that had absorbed every bit of her free time for the last two weeks was finally finished.

Her hands slid over the harness but found only yawning emptiness in the place that usually held her teeny-tiny screwdriver. She frowned and let her eyes roam over the tables, but those too were devoid of the tool.

She scrunched up her face in thought and rapidly tapped a finger against her chin.

Where had she last seen the damned thing? She was so not going to lose her favourite screwdriver too after the recent events.

A few seconds later her face brightened as she remembered that she had used it down in the machining hall to check if the coating had completely dried. She must have put it to the side instead of into her harness when she moved the parts into her box.

Her hands started to vibrate as she prepared to dash off into a cloud of petals. But before her heart could take that final leap into the ludicrous rhythm her semblance required her hands stilled and her fingers curled up into a fist.

She hissed through her teeth and lurched over to the door at a normal pace, all the while trying to force the tingling sensation under her skin back to the place at the centre of her soul where it had come from.

She was not going to waste what she had stolen like this.

The steel door slammed loudly into the frame behind her as she stomped towards the elevator.

Even now, almost two weeks and four combat classes after the incident she could still feel the stolen power boiling in her heart, still stronger than it had ever been before and yearning to be released in a flash of furious speed. 

But she wouldn’t give in to its demands. Not now, not ever.

The doors opened with a faint chime, the light spilling between the doors beckoning for her.

It was strange, she thought, spurred on by that special part of her mind that had to analyse and take apart everything she found. That she still retained so much of the earned strength, or maybe that she had gained so much in the first place.

She hadn’t hurt Neo that bad. Yeah, the bruising had been… not good—Ruby screwed her eyes up and shuddered at the thought of the discoloured handprints that had marred Neo’s pale cheeks—but nothing had been broken. And while Neo had avoided sitting for a while and slept on her belly, her strong aura had healed most of the bruising by the next day.

It had taken Yang’s aura weeks to repair the complicated fracture she sustained, and that injury hadn’t provided her with nearly the same amount of power.

Maybe the difference was because she had caused the injury herself? Ruby tilted her head to the side. But that wasn’t right, was it. In a way she had also caused Yang’s broken arm. After all it had been her who had given the suspended log that final shove that sent it flying towards her sister.

Curious.

Her train of thought was interrupted by another chime, indicating that she had reached her destination.

The doors opened into a large hall that somehow managed to feel cramped despite the ceiling that seemed far to high to belong to an underground chamber. The feeling of claustrophobia was caused by the hulking machines spread all over the room, purring and rattling away at all hours of the day like a pride of iron beasts.

Most people that entered this room did so tentatively, eyes wide and gaze roaming around the room as if they were waiting for an employee to show them a save route through the almost labyrinthine hall, a path were they would not have to fear to be hit by a sudden burst of shrapnel or a rotating piece of machinery.

Not so much Ruby though, she knew this place like she knew her harness and strode in head held high, proud that she could name every one of the machines rumbling away in this place.

She quickly strode towards the tables next to a machine that seemed to consist mostly of a conveyor belt that fed through a boxy contraption. On her way there she waved to the two other people that were still here at this hour. She knew them by sight but hadn’t talked with them beyond a greeting and a ‘do you still need this wrench?’, so she didn’t stop to talk to them.

She wouldn’t have wanted to anyway. Her device was almost finished, and her friends were waiting for her. A wide grin spread over her face; she had told them that she had a new invention to show them and she could just imagine all their expressions.

Yang’s would be almost as giddy as hers; then while she didn’t share Ruby’s passion for engineering and weaponry her sister loved things that went boom just as much, and a lot of Ruby’s invention did so, eventually.

Totally on purpose, mind you.

Weiss would frown as she mentally sorted her prepared rants by their likelihood to be needed in a few moments. Though, why Weiss still did that was beyond her, the order was almost always the same: Dust Safety, Laws and ‘Look out for the bystanders!’ followed by a mixture of ‘How can you be so reckless?’ and ‘How did you manage to make Ice Dust explode!?’.

Blake would show a careful expression and quietly sidle into the background, hands busy to wrap her bowlike hearing protection over her sensitive Fae ears in anticipation of the inevitable, deafening bang.

She picked up her missing screwdriver and slipped it into its proper place in her harness, her grin turning into a happy smile as she did so.

Part of the smile was because she found her tool again, part because she could now add a new friend to the list of imagined reactions, a friend that she had made all by herself.

Neo would give her an indulging smile that spoke of a happiness to share this moment with her friend and a put-on roll of her eyes when Ruby would catch her smile.

How Neo managed to do that without giving her the impression of belittling her was still a mystery to Ruby. Though it might have something to do with that aggravating little side smirk.

She didn’t bother with waving again as she left the room.

Back in her workshop, she picked up the assembled shell of her invention and tightened the final screw in place. She did the same for its twin and then raised both items high into the air and shouted ‘Ha!’ like some kind of game character that had just received a core item.

Though she dropped the pose quickly, it was only half as fun without an audience.

Which reminded her that it was high time for her to leave, letting Yang wait too long was almost always a recipe for disaster. For all the patience her sister had shown her growing up she could barely sit still for ten minutes. Yang was almost as bad as Ruby in that regard.

Ruby stopped by the door for a last scan of the room, and when she found nothing out of place slipped from the workshop.

“Heya!” Ruby shouted as she stormed onto the small plaza behind Yang and Blake’s dorm. She felt a slight twinge of guilt as Neo jumped out of her seat and met her halfway, pulling her into a tight embrace. She hadn’t seen much of Neo recently, but she just had had so many things to do: designing and building her invention, tuning up Crescent Rose, research at the library, Geocaching… Though it wasn’t like she had avoided her, she had seen Neo at lunch together with her other friends.

She returned the hug with featherlike pressure, that slowly grew in strength as Neo’s warmth flowed around and into her. She leaned her head into Neo’s silky soft hair and took a deep breath that gave fuel to a painful ember in her heart.

After a few more seconds Neo unwrapped herself from Ruby, gently took her hand and guided her over to the others watching them from their table.

Yang gave her a long look and then nodded her chin at her. “So, what did you build this time?” She asked, trying, and failing to supress an expectant grin, “And do we need to head for the bomb shelter?”

“Yang,” Weiss said angrily, the deep frown she sported ever since Ruby had appeared still firmly in place, “Don’t encourage her! One day her mad inventions are going to be the death of us.”

“Eh,” Yang waved her concerns off, “At least it will be a blast!”

Weiss and Blake groaned both.

“Hey! It’s not going to explode.” Ruby cried, outraged at how little trust they showed her babies. “It won’t explode! I think.” She added the last bit quietly, remembering the dust-powered toothbrush incident.

As she sat down on the chair Neo had pushed out for her, she heard the screech of scooting chairs from all around as a good dozen students quickly vacated the premises, worried expressions on their faces.

“What’s with them?” Ruby wondered, pointing a thumb over her shoulder, “Is a game on?”

Weiss watched her with a curious frown, but before she could open her mouth Ruby’s lips twitched, giving up the game.

Weiss crossed her arms over her chest and rolled her eyes but didn’t voice the scathing remark that itched on her tongue.

“Aw! Yang!” Ruby exclaimed, scowling at her sister as she rubbed her shoulder. Yang took the outburst in stride and just grinned sunnily at her. “So, what did you want to show us? I’ve got places to be, people to do.” She said nonchalantly, “It’s a Friday after all…”

“Can you at least try to show some decorum?” Weiss said in a huff, her eyes darting from one empty table to the other. “Some of us actually have a public image, you know.”

“Eh, who cares what those hyenas have to say.”

“My father, for one.” Weiss forced through gritted teeth; her words underlined by a long, dark stare.

“Uhm,” Yang said, actually sounding abashed for once. “Sorry.” Blond tresses flew all around as she swivelled her head every which way. “I don’t think you’ve got to be worried. Ruby had them pretty scared.”

“Also, I don’t think anyone will pull a scroll on you anytime soon,” Blake piped in. She pointed a thump at Yang, “Not while they still remember what Yang did to that poor sob.” A devious twinkle appeared in her eyes. “I think I saw him limp reeeally quickly the other way at Lunch.”

“Anywaaay…” Yang interrupted, before the conversation devolved to far. “Rubes. Invention!”

“Just give me a moment.” Ruby said and dumped her black and red courier bag on the table, wincing a bit at the clattering coming from within. She pulled back the top flap and retrieved the cloth-wrapped parcel. Using her elbow, she pushed the bag to the side and laid the package out on the middle of the table.

With a flourish of her hand she unwrapped the bundle, revealing the gleaming metal to the expectant looks of her friends.

They made some polite noises of awe before Yang asked the question that burned on everyone’s mind.

“What are they?”

Ruby grinned and picked the two wide metal tubes up. “Bracelets,” she said with an impish grin and swung around to Neo, the bracelets hanging loosely from her fingers. “For you, Neo.”

Neo’s eyes went wide at hearing that and she rapidly gesticulated at the pair of silvery bands then at herself, her lips moving in noiseless awe.

“Jup.”

After another long moment, Neo’s shock was displaced by giddy awe. She surged forwards, slipped the bands from Ruby’s fingers, and lifted them up to her eyes, turning them every which way as she inspected them closely.

“There is a latch,” Ruby said and stabbed her still raised fingers at a specific point on the bracelets. But her hint hadn’t been necessary as Neo discovered the mechanism that very moment.

With a victorious grin on her lips she snapped first one, then the other closed around her forearms, close to her wrists.

She turned her arms in amazement, the bands were a wonderous fit. They extended all the way from her wrist to the soft swell of muscle starting at the middle of her forearms. Neo lifted her arms and turned them from side to side, but the bands barely moved.

She glanced at Ruby; one eyebrow lifted.

“Sorry about the tight fit.” A sheepish smile spread over her lips as a lone hand found its way to the back of her nape.

“But they kinda have to be this way, or they don’t work.”

All around the table expressions turned from slightly intrigued by the fancy bauble to definitely curious.

“I’m almost afraid to ask… Work?” Weiss asked slowly, carefully, as if she were afraid to light the fuse to a bomb.

“I think that is Ruby speak for explode.” Yang answered drily in Ruby’s stead and shot Neo a toothy grin.

Ruby sighed unhappily. Why couldn’t her sister let go of her irrational dislike! She was like Zwei with a bone about this!

“Neo,” Ruby said, bringing the girl’s attention back to her. “Copy me!”

She formed a pair of finger guns with her hands and mimed firing them at her.

Nodding, Neo swung around and faced Yang with a smirk, then lifted her arms in a copy of the movement Ruby had made moments before. Just as her hands snapped upwards in a mimicry of heavy recoil the bands came to life.

No one around the table but Ruby had expected what that meant, and when the bracelets suddenly erupted in awfully loud ‘pew, pew’ noises in Ruby’s bright voice it was enough to make the already cringing Yang topple her chair backwards.

The crash of cheap aluminium on hard rock was enough to drown out the tail-end of the recording.

Ruby burst into laughter.

“That was awesome,” she said between peals of laughter. “You guys should see your faces!”

“Ha, ha, very funny,” Yang said surly from below the table. A pair of hands appeared at its rim as Yang clawed her way up. She smiled at Blake and sat down on her slightly dented chair. “Thanks Blakey.”

She shot Neo a nasty look and turned to Ruby. “So, they make funny noises. That’s what you spent two weeks working on?” Yang leaned over the table with one arm outstretched and reached for Ruby’s forehead. “Are you feeling alright?”

Before her sister could touch her forehead, Ruby pulled back and raised her nose high into the air, channelling Weiss.

“Just because you can’t recognize genius doesn’t mean it isn’t there.” She said, feigning haughtiness.

A raised blonde eyebrow was all the response she got.

“The Rosetta Bands—that’s what I call them—are able to detect motions of the wearers hands by measuring the electrical impulses in her nerves and match it to a programmed catalogue. When they sense a programmed motion, they play a sound.” She zapped Yang with another pair of finger guns. “Pew, pew.”

She turned round to Neo sitting next to her and smiled at her roommate. “I thought you could record some motions and use them for simple words. That way you can take part in conversation easier than with your scroll.”

Neo just stared at her with an empty face.

Seconds ticked by one by one, but her expression didn’t change.

Ruby grasped at her elbow and looked down at her lap. “I mean, you don’t have to use them if you don’t want to.” She said, her voice quivering slightly.

“Eeep!” She yelped as a heavy weight crashed into her chest and sent her chair toppling to the ground.

Her head was spared a painful meeting with the solid stone floor by a pair of arms that wrapped around her neck and hands that carefully cradled the back of her head.

She shivered at the cold of the bracelets against her skin.

As the shock of the crash drained out of her, she looked down, noticing Neo wrapped around her with her head tucked in under Ruby’s chin.

“Does that mean… You like them?” She asked tentatively.

Neo bobbed her head against the underside of her chin. A huge, heartfelt smile bloomed on Ruby’s lips.

“I’m glad.” She said, quietly, meant only for Neo’s ears.

Tension drained from all over her body, and with it went the imperceptible space that had existed between them.

After a moment she raised her head out of the warm and soft cradle of Neo’s hands. She glanced down at the girl and tilted her head to the side as if she were listening to a faint sound.

“Are you crying?” She asked, hoping that she misconstrued the quaking against her chest. But another nod from Neo dashed that hope.

Before she could ask what had caused the tears Neo squeezed her tightly, in a full body equivalent of the squeeze she had offered her on that bench in the hospital gardens. The motion drew a smile from Ruby. The signal was clear.

A minute later the quiet of their embrace was interrupted by Weiss clearing her throat.

“Could you maybe…” She trailed off, embarrassed.

“Oh yeah, sorry Weiss.” Ruby said and coaxed Neo to loosen the chokehold she had on her. Neo did so, grudgingly.

They righted the chairs, both of them, and sat down at the table.

“Only because I like you,” the scroll said in Neo’s stead.

“Pew, pew!” She grinned at Ruby and fiddled gleefully with her bands.

“That’s going to get old really quickly.”

“You are one to speak, Yang!” Weiss said and pinched the bridge of her nose in exasperation.

“Eh… I need to defend my place in this group.” Yang said offhandedly, then leaned forward and fixed her sister with an inquisitive look. “More importantly, where is the weapon, Ruby?”

“I’m not sure I know what you mean.” Ruby answered innocently, looking everywhere but Yang’s eyes.

“Ruubes… Remember who raised you.”

Ruby grumbled something intelligible but relented.

She took Neo’s arm with a questioning look, hands only closing around the bracelet once the girl had given her permission.

“If you press here and here,” she said and placed her finger against the indicated spots. “Then…”

Her words were cut off by a sudden whooshing sound as a white glowing blade suddenly materialized on the outside of the bracer. The blade reached maybe a hand length past the tips of her fingers and seemingly floated in thin air, a thumb’s width of empty air separating it from the bracer.

It crackled ominously in the quiet of the cosy plaza and dripped sparks that jumped around the ground like a slinky for a few seconds afterwards.

“What the f… is that.” Weiss asked, eyes comically wide.

“Eh…” Ruby stalled for time, wondering how she could phrase that to prevent an explosion. “Hardlight Dust?” She asked sheepishly.

“I know what Hardlight constructs look like, and that,” she pointed at the sparking blade with a shaking finger, “is definitely not it.”

“Uhm,” Ruby tapped her index fingers against each other, “I might have added a tiny bit of lightning dust to it…”

“You did what!?” Weiss screeched, hurting all their ears with her piercing volume. “Please tell me that you didn’t just willy-nilly experiment with one of the most complex dust mixtures!”

“Ehhehe…” Ruby laughed awkwardly and looked down at her empty wrist. “Look at the time. I really need to go to bed. Gotta get up early tomorrow. See you later, ‘kay bye.”

The last part went unheard by the friends sitting around the table, the words about as loud as the rose petals that slowly glided to the floor.

She’d make this one exception. If Weiss got her fingers on her all the energy would go to waste anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I meant to include another scene in this chapter, but it went a bit out of control and I didn't manage to write as much as I would have liked.


	13. Fight!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for missing last week. But I suffered a bit of a flare up of some chronic issues and basically just laid around and bing-watched TV shows instead of being productive.   
> Anyways... I used the addictional time and prepared a little something special. If everything lines up right I'll be able to release it next week. Until then, enjoy:

The next morning was greeted by a bright sun that steadily rose through the cloudless sky. Its golden rays fell on the land like a spell and breathed new life into everything it touched. As the sun went higher and higher it found new places to illuminate, like Ruby’s bedroom.

She had forgotten to close the blinds all the way yesterday evening, too giddy and speed drunk to remember something that banal.

As a result, the sunlight found entry to a place it visited rarely and fell on the sleeping form stretched out all across the bed, where they played over her face with silky fingers, rousing Ruby from her sleep.

Ruby yawned, smacked her lips and pushed herself upright.

A few loud pops echoed through the room as she stretched her back, hands as far above her head as they would go.

A satisfied smile played around her lips as she replayed the events of the previous evening in her mind. It had been a good Friday, she decided, and got out of bed and hurried for the bathroom.

Neo had liked her gift, the corners of her mouth pulled a bit further apart, and she had gotten to run again. Without a specific target in mind her legs had carried her on autopilot, and by the time she had noticed she had already been close to the halfway point of the route she preferred to take on her usual evening runs. There hadn’t been a point in stopping there and so she had let her legs do the thinking.

She stopped in the doorway to the living room after relieving herself and braced a hand against the frame.

She pulled her leg back and pressed the heel of her foot into her buttock. A slight groan slipped from her lips at the burn that spread through her thigh.

She had really missed running.

Jogging just wasn’t the same without her semblance. Runner’s high was nice and all, but it just didn’t compare to the exhilaration she felt when she pushed her body into eleventh gear, when the wind ripped at her clothes with clawed paws and her heart threatened to burst from her chest.

Nothing really did.

Almost nothing.

Speaking of which. Or was it thinking of which?

She shook her head and concentrated on the matter at hand, which was Neo’s glaring absence. She had learned over the last two weeks that her roommate was an early riser, though most of the time she didn’t leave the apartment, instead she busied herself with schoolwork or prepared breakfast for the two, the only meal she could reliably make.

But today, there was no trace of the girl.

Ruby strolled over to the couch and looked at the folded sheets. The pattern lined up differently this morning.

She sat down on the neatly folded blankets and slumped against the backrest. After a short moment she straightened out and took in the room before her, noting the small but obvious changes. Neo was an oddly tidy person, and slowly, bit by bit, her attitude had seeped into their shared home. Trash had vanished, curtains had been cleaned for the first time since ever and chairs were no longer strewn haphazardly through the room.

A soft smile played at the corners of her lips. It was a good change. The place felt more like… home, and less like a place she slept in while studying.

Her train of thought was derailed by a soft buzzing that came from the pocket of her sleep shorts. She quickly dug out her scroll and turned the screen on. An involuntary look of glee spread all over her face as she saw that the message was sent by Neo. Without a second’s pause she tapped the notification and entered the passcode, her thumbs struggling with the unaccustomed motion.

Ruby managed to enter the right combination in her second try and almost dropped her scroll as it suddenly burst to life.

“Hi. Come. Arena. Now.” The words sounded like they came from four different people that couldn’t quite agree on a timing or pronunciation.

With a giggle, she played the message again. Then once more, her outpouring of mirth gaining in strength every time. It was silly, and so very much Neo. This was more like the voice she had imagined for her, playful, confident, and as colourful as her eyes.

It was so much better than the previous two.

After a few moments she finally managed to get back a semblance of composure and responded with a quick message of her own, that said that she’d be there in ten maybe fifteen minutes. Then she hurried into the bathroom once more, the thought of a quick shower occupying her mind.

She was still a bit grimy from her run.

By the time she left her apartment she had received another message—this one in text—that guided her to the indoor arena, or more exactly the gym. Apparently, Neo had only programmed the sound bite for ‘arena’ and couldn’t change it on the quick.

As she turned around the corner of her apartment Ruby applied a touch of her aura and dashed off towards the gymnasium. Neo had asked her to hurry, and she had provided the fuel, so it seemed a fair use of it.

Barely a minute later Ruby crashed through the swinging doors into the large building that housed the training facilities for the university and its students. Without stopping she raced down the hall, dancing around the numerous students that loitered all around the lockers and burst into the gym room at the very end of the building.

She grinned as her eyes fell on a massive mane of golden hair that would make a lion seethe with jealousy and which could only belong to her sister.

“Heya, Yang,” she greeted as she came to a screeching halt a good ten metres past the threshold. “How many asses did you have to kick this time?” This particular room was in high demand with the student body, and rarely ever empty.

“None,” Yang turned around, hands clasped behind her back and shot her a dazzling, almost innocent smile. “What are you taking me for? Some kind of brute?”

“They are learning,” Blake laughed from her perch on the gymnastic box in the corner. “Hi, Ruby.” She waved her open book at Ruby, a languid smile on her upside-down head. “They left in quite a hurry. It seems like Yang and Nora have earned themselves a certain reputation.” She underlined her words with a few quick punches at the thin air.

“Oops.” Heat spread through Ruby as Blake suddenly fought for her balance, tensed her powerful legs, and showed off the sculped muscles in her thighs. The battle lasted for barely an instance before Blake emerged victorious and pulled herself fully back on top of the padded surface.

“You didn’t see that” Blake grumbled; her catlike ears pressed against her head.

“Ehehe, anyway, where’s Neo?” Ruby asked, one hand at the nape of her neck, the other hovering awkwardly in the air. “She asked me here.”

“Hi,” A perky voice that sounded faintly familiar said from behind her.

“Hel-” She turned around, already having started her greeting and suddenly gasped as her eyes fell on the person standing just inside the doors, leaning lazily against the wooden frame. “-oaah, Neo.”

Oh god! The tell-tale heat of a blush spread upwards from her chest and crept slowly into her cheeks. She wanted to turn away from the tableau before her, but found herself completely unable to do so, instead her treacherous eyes moved slowly up and down Neo’s body to take in her current look in its entirety.

At least she didn’t lick her lips, so that was nice.

Neo had tied her hair into a tight braid at the back of her head and had apparently taken great care to separate her hair by colours. Which made it look like her chestnut hair was braided with pink and white ribbons.

The long braid was artfully draped over her shoulders where it contrasted nicely with the so very tight, neon pink sports bra. A wide expanse of smooth, pale skin separated the underside of her bra from the top of her black track pants.

With a herculean effort Ruby managed to pull her eyes from the impression of abs and directed it to a safer place, the arm and hand that was casually waving at her.

Though, safer might have been an overstatement. Her eyes quickly slipped off Neo’s hand and up her arm, noting the visible transformation from dainty, almost skeletal, to definitely defined.

When had that happened?

Blake’s ears twitched in annoyance, turning from side to side to pinpoint the origin of the sudden, extremely high-pitched keening noise that filled the room.

It cut off a moment later.

“Y-you look really ho… Sporty, really sporty!”

“So, eh… What’s the plan?” She asked quickly in a poorly concealed attempt to redirect the attention of the room away from her awkward display. Though it wasn’t as if the question hadn’t any merit at all. Everyone but her was clothed in some kind of exercise gear and looked pretty fresh, not like they were just about to finish up and head out.

“Are we going to spar? Is Weiss coming too?” She hoped so, the heiress could really use some additional practice. Her displays at fighting practice hadn’t been that great so far. While Weiss had the fencing stances down pat and could actually go toe to toe with some of the other swordsmen as long as she could make use of her powerful semblance, she still had immense troubles when facing an opponent with an unconventional weapon.

To Ruby, and probably the rest of the class, it was really obvious that she learned from either a fencing teacher or more likely from instructional videos on the art of fencing.

“No,” An unknown voice said from behind her, startling her and making her turn around only to come face to face with Neo again, who had somehow managed to sneak up on her without her noticing.

She pointed a thumb at herself, then slashed at the air and opened her palm. “I. No. Us.” The bands translated the motions dutifully.

Maybe she needed to talk with Velvet again to update the bands’ programming; they really needed to adjust the current word to fit the context of the previous words. Also, they needed to do something about the choppiness of the playback. She tilted her head to the side in deep thought, maybe they could delay the playback a bit so that they had the chance to stitch the different clips together.

“Uh… Wait what? You? With whom?” Ruby suddenly said as the implications of the words finally pierced through her contemplations.

“With me,” Yang cracked her knuckles, a wide, expectant grin on her face that Ruby knew all too well; it usually meant that someone was about to get a well-deserved ass-kicking.

“Wait what!?” Her head swivelled from Yang over the lolling Blake to Neo, “You can’t be serious!” She all but cried.

“Yes.” Neo nodded. Her lips were pulled in a straight, serious line that belayed any doubts about the imminent fight. Their shoulders brushed against each other as Neo pushed past her, her hands fiddling with a pair of black, fingerless combat gloves.

“Yang?”

“Don’t look so worried, sis.” Yang retreated a few steps, so that she stood on one of the many painted lines that crisscrossed the floor of the training room. “She is actually suspiciously good at this for someone who claims to have started sparring two weeks ago.” She smirked. “It’s probably because of my expert teaching skills.”

“Two weeks?” Ruby’s forehead was lined with deep furrows, “But I thought you didn’t like Neo!”

“Eh…” Yang waved off with a grand gesture that involved her entire arm. “We’ve come to an… Accord.” Yang paused for a moment to show some teeth, then continued, “I get to give her a daily reminder of what would happen if she were to cross me and she gets to eat crow. A Win-Win scenario if you will.”

“Pride cometh before the fall.” Blake interjected from her perch, still seemingly completely engrossed in her reading. “She nearly had you yesterday.”

“Ha!” Yang barked. “You mean after I already fought Nora and Pyrrha. She won’t have this advantage today.” In a theatrical manner befitting a world star wrestler she gave both of her bulging biceps a wet smooch. “These babies are fully charged today.”

“Fight!” Rang out from the bracelet, the single word was accompanied by the meaty smack of her fist slamming into her open palm. Neo impatiently hopped in place and slid from one stance into the next. The transition between them appeared a bit ungainly, as if she wasn’t that sure of the required movements yet, but her feet always landed in the right place and the rest of her body followed suit.

“Alright,” Yang grinned and slid one foot back, leaving the knee slightly bent, ready to lend extra strength to her first punch. “Blakey?” She asked without turning her eyes away from Neo.

“Yeah, just give me a moment,” Blake sighed and carefully slipped a bookmark between the pages of her book. “Okay… Ruby, come here, they usually use all the space they can get.”

Ruby stared unbelieving at the bunch. Had they gone completely mad? “You can’t be serious!” She cried, deciding that she really ought do something about this madness. Her sister hit hard, even without wearing her combat bracers, and Neo had been so very frail just a few days ago.

She shot a quick glance at Neo’s straight back.

A glance that turned into a long stare. Her back had definition… And there were dimples. She gulped hard, drowning the words that wanted to jump from her tongue at the view.

“Let her fight, Ruby.” Blake said and sat up straight on her gymnastic box. She patted the free space next to her and pre-empted Ruby’s indignant barrage of words that was clearly moments away from being launched in her direction.

“Do you really think Neo would pick a fight with Yang, and invite you to it, if she thought she wouldn’t stand a chance? Or that she’d get seriously hurt?”

A thoughtful expression appeared on Ruby’s face. Eventually, she reluctantly shook her head. “No,” she relented.

“Then come over here.” Another pat of her hand against the hard leather upholstery served as a reminder for the previous offer.

Ruby took a tentative step towards Blake but halted soon after and took another look at the two fighters squaring off in the middle of the room. She bit her lip as she tried to catch Neo’s eyes, but the girl was stubbornly watching Yang.

“I promise to call the fight at the first hint of a problem,” Blake promised.

“Okay,” Ruby nodded and slunk over to her, pulled herself easily up on the tall box and plopped down next to Blake.

“Sorry,” she squeaked out and slid a bit to the side and off the book she had sat down on. She almost fell from her high seat as Blake snapped around to her and growled at her with teeth bared.

“Ehehhe.” She leaned back as far as she could without tumbling to the gym floor.

“Fight!” Blared from the Rosetta bands. Apparently, Neo had found the volume controls.

The words were loud enough to make Blake flinch and press her ears flat against her head.

“Could you maybe not?” Blake asked and brandished her balled fists at Neo. Her only answer was a slow and methodical flex of Neo’s fingers. A clear warning of what would happen if they didn’t get with the script right now.

“Okay, okay!” Her fists unclenched. “Get ready,” she said in a strangely deep voice, that lent extra gravitas to the simple action. She waited till both, Yang and Neo, bobbed their heads before she continued with her countdown.

“Get set!”

“Fight!” She finally roared; her voice almost as loud as Neo’s bands had been.

Yang acted as soon as the last syllable had left Blake’s lips and surged forwards, leading with her right fist. The punch was lightning quick, strengthened by the extra kick her bent leg could deliver and left Neo only a fraction of a second to react.

Far too little for the inexperienced fighter.

A loud, girlish shriek rung through the small room as Yang’s knuckles literally smashed into Neo’s face, deforming cheekbones, and tearing her delicate nose apart.

Neo’s destroyed face held together for just a moment longer, then it crumbled into shards that shattered against the floor in a waterfall of silvery light.

Ruby slapped her hands over her mouth to cut off the shriek and googled at the empty air where her roommate had stood just seconds before.

But while the shock of Neo’s sudden demise had left Ruby speechless, Blake and especially Yang seemed completely unperturbed by the gruesome display. Instead of showing dismay at having punched Neo into oblivion Yang twisted around and flailed blindly at the empty air behind her.

Just as Yang wound up for her third punch against whatever phantasm was terrorizing her, the thin air where Neo had stood rippled and cracked until it shattered like a struck mirror a fraction of a second later. Brightly glittering shards fell to the ground, revealing an uninjured Neo that was poised to strike at Yang’s exposed back.

She didn’t waste a moment of her precious time and lunged forwards into a desperate punch aimed at the back of Yang’s head. Her opponent reacted shockingly fast to the unexpected attack from her blind spot and weaved to the side. Unfortunately, she was just a tad bit to slow and couldn’t avoid Neo’s steeled knuckles entirely. The balled fist glanced off the side of her head, missing most of its force, but got tangled in Yang’s impressive golden mane and pulled the fighter off balance.

Yang didn’t fight the pull and dropped forwards on her knees. Her aura flared at the impact on the rubber floor. While hissing through her teeth, she flung herself forward in a desperate bid to avoid the follow up punch aimed at the back of her head and barely caught herself before she smashed her face into the floor.

She didn’t dare to spend the time to rise to her feet and instead lashed out with one of them.

Neo grinned at Yang’s reckless attack and easily avoided the blind kick with an elegant twirl that brought her closer to Yang. She used Yang’s overextended position to her full advantage and clamped her arm around the outstretched leg.

Knowing that she had only moments before her stronger opponent would pull her off balance, she struck immediately.

Yang howled in pain and rage at the brutal punch Neo threw at her knee and flung herself forward, threatening to pull Neo off her feet.

As expected, Neo let go of the leg, which allowed Yang to roll over her shoulder and spring back to her feet. She hissed in pain as her knee almost buckled under her weight. But before it could do so she gritted her teeth and pushed through the pain.

Fortunately for her, she did so just in time to sidestep Neo’s kick aimed at her injured leg. But as the move was born from reaction and not from a conscious thought it left her open to one of Neo’s rapid punches.

The black bundle of flesh, bone and fury hurtled towards Yang’s reddening cheek at a breakneck speed that promised a painful reckoning.

A loud, meaty thwack echoed through the room as the hurtling fist slammed into Yang’s guard.

Yang grinned darkly at Neo past her raised forearms, her furious expression filled with a promise of pain. The burning red eyes were enough of a warning to dissuade Neo from another attempt to break through her opponent’s guard and instead she danced backwards on nimble feet, widening the distance between them to something that would let her evade Yang’s powerful and awfully fast jabs.

Barely a moment later she was rewarded for her prudent decision and managed to duck below the lightning quick lunge coming her way. Yang’s grasping arms managed only to clip her on the side of her head, instead of wrapping around her lithe body.

Relieve showed on Neo’s face as she staggered away from Yang. If Yang had managed to get a hold on her with those tree trunks of hers that she called arms the fight would have been over. She knew as much from painful experience. There was simply no escape from one of her vice-like strangleholds; struggling against it just fuelled her insane semblance until she could crush you into a ruddy pulp.

She retreated a few more steps away from Yang and eyed her carefully, searching for the tiniest weakness she could exploit. A grimace found its way onto her face as she realised that Yang’s eyes were no longer clouded by rage. That wasn’t good at all.

She quickly schooled her face again, praying that Yang hadn’t seen her slip. Her hopes were dashed almost immediately by a small twitch of the corner of Yang’s mouth.

Yang grinned and slowly advanced a few steps towards her. As she did so she tried her best to hide the pain but couldn’t keep the slight tremor out of her knee.

Neo immediately threw up an illusion. Since she hadn’t had the time nor concentration it was a weak one and wouldn’t fool Yang for long. A single step would be enough for her opponent to realise that the angles were all wrong. But luckily, she didn’t need a lot of time.

A second activation of her semblance saw walls spring up on either side of Yang, walls that looked like thin air but would hide her from sight perfectly. Then unlike the fake Neo, the empty, white walls required barely any attention to detail at all.

Once all her illusions were firmly anchored in reality she dashed off, raced along Yang’s weak side and jump-kicked through her own illusion.

Ruby gasped in shock as Neo seemingly appeared from thin air, still not entirely sure what she was seeing. She glanced over to the unperturbed Blake. Was it something like her shadow clones? Just with a touch of invisibility added to it.

Her eyes snapped back to the action just in time to witness Neo’s brutal flying kick hit home.

A second gasp, this one mirrored by Blake, made it past her lips.

Even though her aura had flared brightly, Yang didn’t budge at all. This left Neo in a dangerous situation. “Neo!” She cried out but already knew her warning came to late.

Yang wrenched her shoulders around and unleashed a furious punch, her balled fist crackling with enough of her semblance’s power to spell the end to this fight.

Neo did the only thing she could and dropped to her knees and barely avoided the punch that threatened to take off her head. Realising that she had just avoided disaster she acted on complete instinct and sprung back to her feet. With Yang’s arm placed over her shoulder she wrapped her arms around Yang’s middle and lifted, already seeing Yang fly over her shoulder and crash to the ground behind her. She would be lying prone and completely open to her finishing blow.

Yang didn’t move an inch of the floor.

Multicoloured eyes met red ones and Neo gulped. This was going to hurt.

A heartbeat later Yang threw a semblance enhanced jab at Neo’s middle. The air reverberated from the force of the punch and Neo was ripped clean off Yang, her arms offering about as much resistance as a pair of particularly well-cooked noodles.

Neo flew through the air for a few metres and then crashed to the floor and tumbled head over heel for the remaining distance to the wall.

Ruby didn’t wait for Blake to call the match before she flung herself off her high seat and dove towards Neo’s still form. The fight was over, so much was clear, the only question that was left was to see how badly hurt Neo had gotten in this fool’s errand.

She came to a screeching halt next to Neo, ignored the shower of rose petals and bend down, her hand hovering over her shoulder.

Before she managed to still her shaking hand Neo rolled around and sat up. “Good. Fight.” She said and grinned past Ruby at Yang.

“Jup!” Yang agreed as she walked over to them. “You did great, apart from that last move. You really have to give up on that one. This throw requires a lot more bulk than you’ll ever have!”

Neo nodded with a deep scowl marring her face. She had no idea why she reflexively reverted to that move. Had she seen it somewhere in the past?

“Are you okay?” Her train of thought was interrupted by Ruby’s anxious question.

She nodded quickly.

“Why would you do that?” Ruby cried and wrapped her arms around Neo in a desperate hug. “You don’t need to fight! I’ll protect you!”

“I know,” the bands said, “But you afraid hurting I.”

Ruby pulled back from her hug and eyed her curiously.

“Now I fight. I safe.”

Neo met her eyes.

“Ruby afraid no hear I. Now I talk.” She flashed her bands at Ruby.

She signed the next few words with a devious smirk.

“Safe. Now we can play.”

Ruby stared at her with an unsure expression, repeating the words in her head again in an attempt to make sense of them.

A moment later all colour left her face and she shook her head in a frenzy. “No, no, no…” She squeaked out past bloodless lips.

Neo just kept grinning at her and nodded her head yes.


	14. Strangest Friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you may or may not have noticed this story is now part of a series.  
> This is because I decided to move smut that is not relevant to the story, but which I nevertheless want to write into a new story. But these bits of smut will usually be relevant to the current chapter, so I'll add a link to it in the end notes and mark the place where it ties in, if practicable.

Ruby weaved her pen rapidly over the page, shading one last area of her sketch and then dropped it next to her notebook with a satisfied smile. The weapon looked magnificent, though admittedly it wouldn’t be a good one for combat. Parts of it would be either too flimsy, or the entire weapon would be even heavier than Crescent Rose, and most people had trouble with swinging even her baby.

Though the knowledge of the design’s shortcomings didn’t weaken her enjoyment of it. A girl could dream!

She flinched as something black and boxy was smashed down on her table and sent her pen flying. Only her desperate lunge for it saved her precious, second most favourite pen.

“How did you do it?” Weiss demanded to know. The tone of voice Weiss used made her flinch. It was the one she deployed against the paparazzies that regularly snuck on the campus. The one that implied the “How Dare You!” with every word.

“Huh?” Ruby asked bewildered and stared at the heavily breathing Weiss, unsure about what she had done wrong this time.

“This!” Weiss pointed at the reinforced box and pressed her thumb on the scanner. The little bit of clear plastic lit up with a soft, red light as the sophisticated lock scanned her fingerprint. After a second it beeped and a tiny red light turned green, signalling that it had recognized Weiss as its rightful owner.

Something inside of it whirred, then clacked and the lid of the rounded box sprung open, revealing a bed of shaped foam that held a scant few tiny vials filled with an almost translucent, slightly yellow tinted form of dust. 

“I spent the last three days trying to figure this out.” She gestured at the vials, or more likely the dust they held.

Ruby leaned forwards, her curiosity piqued.

“Is that my Hardlightning Dust?” Ruby asked, finally having recognized the familiar, peculiar colour.

The look of irritation left Weiss’ face, displaced by an awkward smile. Bits of pink entered her pale cheeks as her eyes avoided Ruby’s inquisitive but still friendly gaze.

“Umm, Neo let me have a pinch.” Weiss raised her chin and wiped the embarrassment of her cheeks. “It’s not like I wanted to steal this from you. I was just curious…” She trailed off, at a loss of better words to explain her interest.

Weiss needn’t have bothered, Ruby laughed gaily at her, dissipating her worry.

“You don’t have to explain curiosity to me, Weiss.” Ruby flashed her a toothy grin. She pointed at the box and said, “so, you figured it out?”

“Yes,” Weiss stated firmly, sounding like her usual confident self. “Though I had to go down to the Vale branch of the SDC Labs. I needed a better mass spectrometer than they have here.”

“Oh, really?”

Weiss nodded, “That’s why I wasn’t around yesterday. I thought I had the dust ratios figured out on Sunday. But my attempts at reproducing this stuff,” Weiss tapped the vial with her ring finger, “ended in repeated failure.”

Ruby furrowed her brow and picked one of the vials out of its formfitting bed. “But I thought that once you know the formula making more of it is easy.”

Weiss moved her head in a seesaw motion and stole the vial from Ruby’s fingers. She slid it carefully back in place and snapped the lid closed. The box made audible sounds as it automatically locked a moment later.

“Usually that’s true,” Weiss finally admitted. “But sometimes there is more to a mixture than just the dusts that were used. Hence the mass spectrometer. For example, your ‘Hardlightning Dust’, as you call it, contains a few milligrams of graphite that seems to stop the Lightning Dust from igniting the Hardlight Dust.”

Ruby smirked as Weiss said the name she had given to her new dust; she could literally hear the eyeroll Weiss wanted to perform but had supressed for her sake.

After a moment of silence, she noticed that Weiss was staring expectantly at her, so she stared right back.

“So?” Weiss finally asked.

“What?”

This time Weiss did roll her eyes.

“So how did you know that you had to add graphite to stabilize your mixture? I don’t think your classes have touched non-dust additives yet.”

“No,” she admitted with an impish grin. “I didn’t even know that there was graphite in my Lightning Dust. Though I did buy it pretty cheap…” She trailed off. With all the Lien she had spent on building the bands for Neo she hadn’t had much left over of her monthly allowance to buy dust and therefore had needed to stoop down to shopping at that sketchy, little dust shop just off campus grounds.

“So, you just mixed a vial of impure dust into your delicate Hardlight Dust?” Weiss ground out through gritted teeth.

She squirmed and looked away from the twitching muscle in Weiss’ jaw. “N-not exactly?” Her voice rose at the last of her words, the implied question did little to calm Weiss’ ire.

“So?” Weiss raised a solitary eyebrow.

In that moment she reminded Ruby an awful lot of her sister when she first started tinkering with their household appliances. That cocked stance with the fists against the tops of her hips was a perfect mirror image of past Yang.

“It was not the entire vial. Maybe two thirds… three fifths?” She cringed away from Weiss in anticipation of the inevitable outburst.

It took longer to happen than she had expected.

For a second or two Weiss just stared at her dumbfounded. Though that moment of silence was just the calm before the storm, then the next moment she opened her mouth and literally screeched her disbelieve, deafening the few students that were already sitting in the lecture hall.

“Are you shitting me!?”

Weiss’ eyes went wide, and she quickly sat down on the free seat next to Ruby, her usually ramrod straight back a single curve in her attempt to hide from the scrutiny of her assembled peers.

She glared hotly over at Ruby, as if she had been the one that broke the silence of the room.

“So, you are meaning to tell me that you picked up that vial and just shook a few bits of it into your other vial of ridiculously expensive dust, not only risking the loss of all that dust but also blowing yourself up in the process. Just like that?”

Aghast, blue eyes met silver ones as she asked her final, all important question.

“Why?”

“Uhm… It, eh, it felt right.” Ruby answered tentatively, hoping that she still had enough of her aura left to escape the scary long reach of Weiss’ semblance. That was probably the only way she’d survive the day, as the few fellow huntsmen in training didn’t look like they’d be able to slow down a rampaging Weiss. Even if most of them had beaten her during their regular sparring matches.

“Ruby?” Weiss finally asked, her voice dangerously calm. Ruby gulped, the last time she had seen Weiss like this the campus security had needed to raid the labs to scrape together enough Fire Dust to put a dent into the man shaped icicle her wrath had left behind.

“Do you have any idea about the ridiculous amount of money the SDC invests in R&D?” She shook her head in a quick no, though her response hadn’t been necessary as Weiss marched right on. “And how few new, stable dust combinations they find?” She slammed her hand down on Ruby’s notebook, making her wince in sympathy for her poor sketches. “Three! Three discoveries over the entire last year, and two of those were just slight improvements over existing mixtures. The SDC invested millions and thousands of manhours…”

She let out a tortured sigh and shrunk visibly into her chair. “And you get almost the same result in a single afternoon with a ten Lien vial of shady dust. Because you had a feeling!” Weiss almost sobbed the last word and dropped her head into her open palms.

“I have the strangest friends,” Weiss choked into her hands. The warmth of the words made her smile. She draped a tentative arm around Weiss shoulder and tightened it into a sideways hug a moment later when Weiss didn’t shake it off.

“Even a blind chicken can find a grain.” Ruby said, to lighten the mood.

The words drew a faint chuckle from Weiss.

“You’re more like a manic squirrel that found a stash of nut shaped explosives,” Weiss stated, her lips tinged with a dash of a smile. She shook Ruby’s arm of and slid her hand into her bag. When it emerged again it held a thin sheave of official looking papers. She spread them out in front of Ruby and pointed at the first one.

“That’s a bill of sale,” Weiss explained.

Ruby took hold of the leaf margin and lifted it an inch. The first thing that sprung into her eyes was the large SDC seal in the corner. She cocked her head and focused Weiss with an inquisitive look. So far, Weiss had always tried to keep the whole family business thing as far away from them as possible. Something about not wanting to draw her father’s notice anymore than necessary, she usually said.

When Weiss didn’t meet her gaze, she turned back to the contract. “So, what exactly am I selling the SDC?”

“Your dust formula, obviously,” Weiss pointed a manicured fingernail at several alchemical symbols and numbers that made little sense to her. “That’s what it looks like written down in SDN.”

Ruby turned her head and bit her lower lip.

“Standard Dust Notation,” Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose, “that’s high school level knowledge! Were you sitting behind a pillar during those classes!?”

“I eh… was always more interested in the practical side of science class.” Ruby muttered as a bit of red crept into her cheeks. It wasn’t like she hadn’t learned all that stuff. After all, she had passed that class with high marks. The bone-dry, theoretic stuff just hadn’t stuck with her for long after the exams.

“Anyway,” Weiss shook her head, “The SDC tries to buy anything new that’s dust related. And with my last name involved I got you a deal that is a lot better than anything you could get on your own.” She turned the leaf and tapped her painted nail against a number written in bold print.

“It’s not a lot,” Weiss said, sounding apologetic. “But Hardlightning Dust isn’t that useful. Too costly to be used as a serious weapon, especially since it’s basically just a fancy Shock Rod. And a few rolls of barbed wire do a better job to keep people out than a barrier made from that stuff. The only people I can see using it are high-class personal security details.”

“Oh, okay.” Ruby’s smile dropped a bit. She had hoped for more. What inventor didn’t dream of revolutionising the world with their inventions. Although, she hadn’t even thought about that when she had come up with this new dust. Engineering was her strength, not alchemy.

She lowered her eyes to the number Weiss was impatiently tapping and froze. She blinked, but the number stayed the same. A soft whine formed at the back of her throat as she slowly turned around to face Weiss head on.

“This can’t be right!” She choked out.

“As I said…” Weiss started up again as her sorry expression solidified its hold on her face.

“This is far too much,” Ruby screeched.

Weiss blinked at Ruby, visibly confused by her excitement over the pitiful amount the SDC had been willing to shell out for that crazy complex formula.

Rose petals slowly started fluttering through the air as Ruby’s excitement grew too big for her mortal body to contain.

“I can buy Yang that bike she always wanted!” Her eyes flew open and she drew her lips into a crazy grin, that reached from one ear all the way to the other. “Heck! I can build her a better one with this much Lien. One with rocket launchers and dust injectors! And I’ll still have plenty left for other inventions!”

“You can’t do that!” Weiss interrupted her babbling, face ashen.

“What why?” Ruby asked, honestly confused.

“Because it’s against the law!”

“Eh…” Ruby waved her concern off with an easy flip of her hand. “I bet I could bribe a…”

“You utterly complete… Dolt!” She violently ripped the contract out from under Ruby’s fingers and held it with two hands, threatening to tear it apart. “You are going to promise to me right now that you will use that money like a responsible adult, and if you can’t put yourself into the mindset of a functional member of society you will come to me and ask me if it is something a non crazy person would do, or so help me god I will tear this contract into so many tiny shreds that not even the Remnant Champion of Puzzles could fit it back together. Understood?”

Ruby shrunk visibly under Weiss’ heated glare that grew in intensity by the second.

“I-I…” She cleared her throat, “promise.”

“Good,” Weiss ground out through gritted teeth and dropped the crumbled contract back into her hands.

“You have to sign it on the dotted line,” Weiss added after Ruby had smoothed out the piece of paper, her voice still carried a hint of her previous anger.

Ruby flicked her second favourite pen into her left hand and put it to the indicated line, then she paused and brought her other hand to the back of her nape, her fingers playing with the red tips of her hair.

“Uhm… Neo’s bands…”

Weiss rolled her eyes. “So, you don’t know anything about history either?” She shook her head but deigned to answer the question without making Ruby beg. “You can make as much of it for personal use as you want. You can even sell it as long as you keep the amount of sold dust to less than 10 kilograms a year, excluding any amount sold to Huntsmen. As per the ruling of the-”

“Huntsman Concordat,” Professor Port finished for Weiss, “One of the Huntsmen’s many achievements.” He smiled grandly at Ruby and Weiss and leaned in close, as if to share a well-kept secret. “If it had been up to those scallywags from the Alchemy Guild, we Huntsmen would have to pay them for every single dust round we make. Preposterous!”

He slammed his meaty fist down on the table, making Ruby wince again, though this time not because of her notebook. She eyed the contract and sighed when it became clear that it hadn’t taken any more damage.

“But the good people of Remnant knew who was protecting them from the evils of the wild and stood behind us. Those city-dwelling thieves didn’t stand a chance!”

He grinned, straightened back out and turned to leave.

“The way I heard it,” Weiss said, just loud enough for Professor Port to hear, “the Alchemist’s Guild just wanted to standardise dust quality to make its usage safer for the common man. A proposal that found widespread support until the Huntsman’s Guild threatened to leave any city or village that supported the resolution to fend for itself.”

“A death sentence at the time,” she spat out with a sharp glare pointed at the Professor.

He turned back to her; his lips drawn into a tight line. “A necessary evil. Without the additional income the Guild would have run out of gold within months. Back then, the fiefdoms weren’t very willing to separate themselves from their wealth for the welfare of their serfs.”

“Sure,” Weiss said and shot him one of her well practiced smiles. The same one she used when she got cornered by an overeager reporter. The one that didn’t reach her blue eyes at all.

It was enough for Professor Port, as he shot her a friendly, slightly smug smile in return and stepped over to the lectern, just in time for the ringing of the bell.

The lesson that followed wasn’t particularly interesting. Just a lot of information about all the kingdoms that came and went before the rise of the big four. So, Ruby had plenty of time to sign the contract, read it in its entirety twice and to fantasize about all the things she could buy once the money came through.

It was near the end of the lesson when her train of thought finally returned to the lecture hall. Though not because the longwinded tale the Professor had spun for the last ten minutes suddenly got interesting, but because the door to the room was opened from outside.

Only a few others besides Ruby noticed the arrival of someone new, as most of the students had long tuned out of the lecture and were playing on their scrolls or were having whispered conversations with their neighbours.

Though even the most obstinate of them jolted in alarm as Professor Goodwitch’s bright voice rung through the hall.

“Hello Professor Port,” she greeted from the door, “am I too early? I can wait outside in that case.”

“No, no! Perish the thought, my dear Professor Goodwitch,” Professor Port said grandly and waved for her to step in. “I was just about finished with my retelling of the fall of the Southern Republic.”

“Excellent,” Glynda said and stepped through the door, closing it quietly behind her. She turned her head and surveyed the students as she stepped over to her fellow Professor, glaring at the few that were still scrambling to put away their scrolls.

Ruby sighed in relieve as her piercing gaze momentarily touched her face and immediately slipped off. She’d have to thank Weiss later, if it hadn’t been for her musing about all that Lien, she just earned she’d probably have been playing on her scroll too.

So, she had probably just avoided another gruelling training session involving a towering heap of training weights and an irate Professor.

“Hello students,” Professor Goodwitch said, “I’m sorry for cutting your interesting lecture short. But I’m sure you’ll forgive me once you hear why.” A tight, professional smile appeared on her lips. “Due to your excellent performance in combat class during these first three weeks the Headmaster and I decided that we could accelerate the curriculum a bit and move our first excursion into the wilds up.”

Ruby’s eyes widened at that declaration and she turned to Weiss, a thousand questions already on her tongue. Though they were quickly stifled by the warning glare that burned in Weiss’ eyes. But even without Ruby’s voice adding to the hubbub, Professor Goodwitch’s voice was almost drowned out by the ensuing whispered discussions.

A loud crack from the Professor’s riding crop took quick care of that.

“I understand your excitement, but please do not interrupt class.”

Glynda returned her crop to its holster and then continued her speech.

“While you won’t be heading to far into the wilds, you are still far too inexperienced to do even that little alone. Therefore, always two of you will partner up and form a team with a pair of second year Huntsmen-in-training.”

She paused just long enough to unfold a small piece of paper.

“Usually, this excursion takes place after the welcoming dance at the end of the first month, so that you get a chance to meet the Huntsmen in the year above you and chose a pair that you’d like to accompany on this trip.”

“This time, this will not be possible, as the trip takes place this weekend.”

Her next words were stalled by a bunch of mixed, but all of them loud, reactions from the student body. Apparently, some of them weren’t too happy with having their plans for the weekend dashed on such short notice.

Ruby grinned, it was easy to see which ones of them didn’t have a Huntsman in their family, otherwise they would know better than to be shocked about this.

She cocked her head and gave Weiss the side-eyes, but her friend seemed unperturbed by the sudden announcement.

“So,” Professor Goodwitch said, her raised voice cutting easily through the angry, shushed discussions, “The Headmaster and I decided on the teams.”

She took a moment to smooth out the piece of paper and then started listing pairs. Ruby barely registered most of them, as she was only interested in four specific names. By the time one of them finally appeared her hands were just about ready to shed rose petals.

“Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee will team up with Yang Xiao Long and Blake Belladonna.”

Jackpot! Ruby pumped the air excitedly but managed to keep the cry forming in her chest to herself. Her, Weiss, Blake, and Yang all in one team! How lucky was that. She all but vibrated in her seat.

Her hand crept for her pocket, she had to tell Yang the good news!

Cold fingers wrapped around her wrist tightly and held her arm in place. The interruption was enough to pull her from her excited haze and remind her that she was still in class. She relaxed her arm and shot Weiss a weak, but thankful smile.

Afterwards, she returned her attention to Professor Goodwitch, who was just about finished with calling out the groupings.

The Professor carefully refolded her list into a neat, tiny square and then palmed it. The next moment it was gone. Whatever she had done with it had been too fast for even Ruby to follow.

“Before you leave the hall,” she glanced her wristwatch, “in two minutes, make sure to find your partner. Furthermore, you will have to go by the William Frederick Cody Dorm before the end of the week. All the upper-class huntsmen-in-training have rooms there. You’ll find a directory in the entrance hall.” Professor Goodwitch shot the assembled students a piercing glare over the rim of her stylish glasses and gave her next words a sharp edge.

“As the leaders of your teams they will have the details to your mission, and we ordered them to leave with or without you. If you want to pass this class, ensure that they will leave with you!”

She clasped her hands tightly over the podium and loosened the straight line of her lips into something that could be construed as a smile.

“All the places you will visit have recently been cleaned out by third year huntsmen, so the opposition should be minimal. But that doesn’t mean that there couldn’t still be Grimm in the area. So, stay vigilant and follow the commands of your team leaders. They will report back on your conduct on this mission.”

After a short pause Professor Goodwitch bobbed her head at the students. “That will be all,” she said, just moments before the bell heralded the end of the lesson and left the room.

“We’re going into wilds! IEeeee!” Ruby cried and sprung out of her seat. She quickly gathered up all her things and stuffed them into her bag. Weiss’ things followed a moment later as she grew impatient with her friend’s progress.

Before Weiss could voice her displeasure at her action, she grabbed Weiss by the hand and pulled her forcefully from her seat.

“We’ll have to tell Yang,” she squealed and grasped at the reservoir of power at the entre of her soul.

Weiss’ eyes widened in fear as she could suddenly feel Ruby’s racing pulse against her fingers. “Ruby, don’t you da-”

The last syllable was lost to the wind as Ruby dashed off, Weiss’ hand still firmly in her strong grasp. The pair flew out the door like they were shot from a cannon, an image that was only reinforced as the slipstream of their passing slammed the door shut behind them.

The cries of indignation from the other students in the hall went unheard by the pair, as by the time the huntsmen-in-training had found their voices Ruby had already dragged Weiss out of the building and a good distance to Yang and Blake’s room.

Seconds later Ruby dashed up the stairs to the first floor of the Cody Dorm and raced down the corridor. In her excitement, and with the added weight of Weiss pulling at her arm she overshot her sister’s room by a good bit.

She let go of Weiss’ hand and jumped back the few metres to the door, flung it open and stuck her head into the room, all in one smooth, rose petal trailing movement.

Weiss, having recovered from her abrupt emergency break on the carpeted floor, grimaced at the loud, atonal music that leaked through the now open door into the hall and got back to her feet to join Ruby by the door.

“Yaaa-”1 Ruby’s voice choked off mid-shout. A moment later she recoiled from the open doorway like she had been struck by a fist, and with a pale-faced, wide-eyed glance at Weiss slammed the door shut.

She all but ran over to Weiss and took hold of her wrist. “Ehhehe… On second thought, why don’t we go down to the workshop and make sure that our weapons are in tiptop shape?” Ruby giggled awkwardly and dragged Weiss towards the stairs.

“What? Why?” Weiss demanded to know and dug her feet into the carpeted floor, to little avail as her dainty flats barely offered any grip compared to Ruby’s heavy boots.

“Are they doing something illegal in there?” She turned her head back to the door and stared darkly at it, as if demanding it move to the side. When it didn’t, she returned her eyes to her captor. “They are, aren’t they!” She said confidently, as Ruby wouldn’t meet her gaze and only showed her a bit of red-tinted cheeks.

But Ruby just continued ignoring her outraged cries and bodied her down the stairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24826645/chapters/60051286


	15. Riverwood

“So, please remind me, Ruby,” Her sister said, a dark scowl on her usually jovial face, “why exactly she is here.” Yang stabbed a finger at Neo who was sitting on the bench seat opposite of theirs, tightly wedged in between Ruby and Weiss.

“Uhm,” Ruby muttered and tapped the tips of her index fingers together, her face a picture of guilt. “Because she wanted to come?”

“And since when is that enough reason for a Huntsman to take a civilian on a dangerous expedition into the wilds?” Yang asked, her words rough from suppressed anger. She raised her entire arm as a single finger just wasn’t accusation enough and pointed it at the target of her ire. “She can’t even fight.”

“Hey!” Neo signed, but her exclamation got lost in a bunch of yelps as their transport hit another deep pothole and everyone got jostled about.

“Could you…?” Weiss grumbled and slid most of her butt back onto the seat, eyeing the minuscule amount of free space between Blake and Yang jealously. “Thanks.”

“A bit of hand to hand combat isn’t going to put a dent into a creature of Grimm.” Yang said, once they had recovered from the bump. “And neither is that!” She added, as a crackling blade came into existence a few fingers away from Weiss nose.

“Hey! Get that away from me!” Weiss screeched. The volume of her cry earned her a stiff rebuke from their driver up front. “Don’t you guys know anything about dust safety?” Weiss continued a lot quieter, her eyes trained at the headrest of their gruff driver.

Barely a moment later the Hardlightning Dust blade flickered and vanished. Weiss blinked her eyes in an attempt to get rid of the bright afterimage and glared at Neo, who faced her piercing stare with an apologetic smile.

“Also,” she turned back to Yang, “Huntsmen have been doing this for centuries, it’s called ‘Escorting’, something even a brute like you should know. But we, in particular, are doing this because Neo here.” Another heated glare in Neo’s direction. “Threatened to go by herself if we wouldn’t let her come with us. And,” her voice rose again in anger, the earlier rebuke already forgotten, “because Headmaster Ozpin was in hearing range and thought it would be a jolly good exercise for huntsmen-in-training if we took her with us on this ‘barely dangerous’ expedition.”

She even tried to do the air-quote thing, but only managed to disentangle one arm, the other was firmly stuck in the little recess next to the tailgate. Her lips pulled back into a nasty snarl. “And since I didn’t see you confront Professor Goodwitch about it, could we please all shut up about it? I’m not in the mood.”

Right then, they hit another pothole that made her almost fly out of her seat, only her wedged in arm held her back. She hissed through gritted teeth and shot a murderous glare at the back of the driver that would have struck down a lesser man in an instant.

“Okay, okay.” Yang smirked. “There is no need to blow a gasket.”

Blake just turned a page, happy that she had remembered to bring her ear protection.

An hour and a hundred potholes later the jeep came to a stop in a little, walled village just on the fringe of the wilds. The wheels were still moving a bit when the tailgate sprung open and Yang jumped out. She took several quick steps to the side and stretched her back, making it pop in a rapid series of wet snaps.

Blake followed her a moment later and stepped up next to her. Her ears swivelled in every direction as she scrutinized the squat buildings ringing the main plaza. From the looks of it the dark lumber used in the construction of the hewn log cabins was directly sourced from the surrounding woods and was probably also the economic mainstay of the village.

But even though the houses looked rough, the people living in them clearly took some pride in their homes. All of them were in good condition, plenty of roofs showed signs of recent repairs, walls gleamed with the shine of a fresh finish and almost all of them had planted at least some flowers, vegetables or kept smaller livestock in their fenced-off gardens.

“Just the gatekeeper,” Blake said from the corner of her mouth.

Yang nodded her understanding; Blake had almost a sixth sense when it came to noticing if she was watched.

“Quaint,” Weiss said with a budding sneer on her face.

“Wow, this is Rivertree?” Ruby asked, her voice painfully high from her very apparent excitement.

“Riverwood, dunce.” Weiss sighed and kneaded her temples.

“Tomato, tomato,” Ruby shot back over her shoulder as she stormed past Weiss towards the closest of the buildings. The blockhouses looked a lot like those used by the shepherds on Patch, though from what she could tell there were some differences in how they had been cut and stacked. Also, there was less of an overshoot at the corners and…

“Rubes!” Yang said sharply, grabbed her by the tail end of her fluttering cape and pulled.

Ruby let out a strange, strangled sound and fell back, right into her sister’s arms. She glanced up at Yang’s irate face and cringed; that was the same expression Yang used to have back when she was more of a mom than a sister to her.

“Stay with the group, Ruby!”

“Buuut,” Ruby whined and stabbed a finger at the house.

“No but,” Yang’s sharp bark interrupted her before she could tell her friends what was so interesting about a log cabin. “As of five minutes ago, we are in the field. That means, no running ahead, no ‘just checking out something really cool for a moment’ and,” Yang poked her with a stiff finger, “no touching.”

Ruby opened her mouth but was again cut off by her sister who waggled a warning finger at her. “And no talkback. Blake and I are the instructors on this trip. If you want a good grade you better make sure to follow our orders.”

She stared at Yang with wide eyes and whined, “but you’re my sister.”

“Yes,” Yang nodded, “that is why I’ll make doubly sure that you learn the rules that help you and your team stay safe. And if you don’t learn them, I’ll at least make sure that you won’t risk your life as a huntress. Is that clear.” Her words held non of her usual jest.

Ruby gulped and nodded.

After a moment of uncomfortable eye contact, she lowered her head and trudged past her sister back to where Weiss and Neo were standing.

“That applies to all of you,” Yang said, deadly serious.

“Of course,” Weiss answered, as Neo nodded.

“Well then,” Yang gestured for Blake, who nodded and pulled a laminated map from her running backpack. She stepped forwards into the small circle of her teammates and pointed at the pictogram of a walled village. “We’re here.”

She pointed at a tiny image of a crossed-out castle only a few river bends away. “We’re going here. This is an old, abandoned castle that once controlled the upper part of the river. Back when there was still a clan of Naga living in the source lake.” She pointed at a small lake a good bit upstream of the castle.

“Oh, what happened to them?” Ruby wanted to know. She would have loved to meet a Naga. Since they needed a body of clean water to live in, they usually stayed far away from civilisation. Because of that she had never seen one of the snake-like humanoids, only read about them in books.

“Eradicated by the Crusade,” Blake said with hard eyes. “They are a proud, warlike race and this clan didn’t take kindly to the intruders. But they didn’t realise that there was an entire army on the march just half a day behind the scouts.” She paused for a moment, her lips a tight, bloodless line. “The ones that didn’t die fighting were killed when the Crusade dumped Lightning Dust into the lake.”

“Oh,”

“Mhm,” Blake nodded.

“Castle?” Weiss prompted after the silence had lasted for almost a whole minute.

“Yes, castle.” She slid her finger back along the river to the symbol. “The lord of the castle joined up with the Crusade, quite happy that they had done away with the Naga that lived in these waters and sometimes preyed on the villages downstream. The place was then used by the Crusade as a staging post for the numerous attacks on the Fae clans in the region. It’s even said that William the Lion himself lived here for a while towards the end of his terrible reign.”

She paused to give Ruby time to ask her question, but to everyone’s surprise she stayed silent. After a short moment she moved her eyes from one unbelieving stare to the next.

“Hey! I know who he is,” she said with an indignant pout.

“Really?”

“Yes! Of course! Have you seen his weapons? Those Lionhead Combat Gauntlets are sooo cool!”

“Oh, Ruby, never change.” Yang said from in between bursts of laughter, her outpouring of mirth mirrored by the others in lesser extends.

Her pout intensified as she turned her head away.

“Anyway,” Blake said, her voice still tinged with mirth, “our mission is to reach the castle and investigate it. There are four caches of intel hidden, one for each of us. We have to find them, write down whatever they say and then return here by Sunday evening, so that we can catch our ride back to Beacon.”

“Do we know what those caches look like?” Weiss asked, brows furrowed and focus still firmly on the map.

Blake shook her head. “No, but usually they are quite obvious, once found.”

“Good,” Weiss nodded and fished her scroll from her pocket. After a few quick taps on the virtual keyboard she gave her head a jerky nod and showed the screen to the others. “Less than forty kilometres.” She stated, with a small, satisfied smile distorting her lips, “We might even get to sleep here this night,” Weiss looked at one of the rustic houses and screwed up her face. “I guess it will be at least a little better than sleeping on the ground.”

“Uhm, Princess,” Yang said, trying and failing to suppress a shit-eating grin.

“Don’t call me that!” Weiss scowled at Yang, doing her best to ignore the twitching in the corners of the girl’s mouth. After a long moment she pinched the bridge of her nose and gave off a tortured sigh. “Just spit it out already!”

“The road is no longer there.”

“So?”

“So, that thirty-something kilometres aren’t a jog on a paved road, but leagues upon leagues of dense undergrowth, brambles and uneven ground. We’ll be lucky if we make it before the sun sinks below those mountains there.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes,” Blake said firmly and gave the sun a speculative look. “Looks like we still have about twelve hours of sunlight left.” She seesawed her head from side to side. “Considering how dense the leaf canopy is that means it will probably get to dark for you guys in eight hours, at most.”

She refolded the map and slid it back into her minimalistic backpack. “So, we better leave right now.”

A nod from Yang was all the agreement she needed before she turned back towards the large gate their car had come in through and led the way out of the village.

As they walked through the sole gate the gatekeeper waved at them lazily and wished them luck on their hunt. The people around here were used to the occasional visit of huntsmen-in-training and could suss them out without much of a problem. They were always young, as colourful as a peacock and armed to the teeth.

The group settled into a lose formation as they followed the packed dirt path down to the river. Blake led the way, her sharp eyes and ears well tuned to the forest, a few steps behind her followed Weiss, Ruby and Neo, the last one between the two. Yang followed right behind; her eyes trained on the trees around her. Not quiet as comfortable in the woods as Blake, but still not too unhappy with her lot.

When she had undertaken her first excursion, they visited an abandoned Dust mine high in the mountains. The lack of even a bit of shade, strong winds and multiple vertical climbs had made for an unfun trip.

Down by the river they turned away from the path and stepped into the woods. A few metres past the first tree the world seemed to suddenly quieten. The noises of the sawmill just a few dozen metres behind them vanished and were replaced by an eerie silence, that wasn’t even disturbed by so much as the cry of a bird.

Ruby glanced uneasily at her team. This was nothing like the sparse woods on Patch, where you could always hear an animal or see the blue sky. She tilted her head back, but no matter how much she craned her neck, she couldn’t see anything but the dark green canopy.

Still, Blake didn’t seem to be worried, so this was probably normal.

For the first kilometre the hike was pretty easy, the regular coming and going of hunters from Riverwood had created a long, winding trail that followed the bends and curves of the meandering river. But every so often an even thinner path would branch of into the dense undergrowth, and with each one of them the muddy path they followed grew weaker until it was finally lost to the pine needle covered floor.

At which point Blake unclasped Gambol Shroud from her belt and used the cutting edge of her sheath to hack a path through the thorny shrubbery. The combined weight of the sheath and blade gave considerable heft to the weapon, which allowed Blake to cut even through good sized branches without breaking a sweat.

But even so, their progress slowed down to a crawl, compared to the clipped pace they had kept to before. The time between each step gave Ruby a chance to really look at her surroundings and take in the atmosphere.

She shuddered and pulled her cape tighter around herself. Here, deep between the immense trees the air held a frigid touch, a hint of the coming winter. But it wasn’t just the cold that made her shudder, but also the overall feel of this endless green and brown cave. Time seemed to slow down and the space between each step forward seemed to grow by the minute. An illusion strengthened by the complete absence of sound outside of the noises their group made, the swishing of Gambol Shroud, the ‘tchuck’ when it cut through wood and bark, the occasional crunch when they stepped on fresh bramble, and the suppressed curses from Weiss’s lips when she slipped on an exposed tree root.

Her hand floated to her lower back without a conscious thought and patted her baby, making sure that Crescent Rose was still with her. An irrational thing to do, as she was always very aware of her weapon’s considerable weight pulling on her harness.

A grimace appeared on her face as she studied her surroundings in between careful glances at the springy, moss-covered floor. Crescent Rose would do terribly around here. The wide tree trunks had grown in number and were now standing surprisingly close together for such tall trees, and what little space remained between them was filled with dense shrubbery that often reached all the way up to her shoulders and sometimes even past her head.

And as if that weren’t enough, the floor was completely overgrown with thick, thorny vines that would trip her up for sure if she tried to charge through them. Her baby’s scythe form would be right out. The war scythe configuration wouldn’t do well either unless they could dig in and defend a single angle.

No, her best bet was the rifle form. Thanks to Professor Goodwitch, she had gotten plenty of opportunity to train herself with its use in close quarter combat and rarely ever missed a shot these days. Though, a clean punch through was still an issue against enemies without an aura; at more than thrice the speed of sound her sniper round’s velocity was far too high only a few metres past the muzzle and could easily punch clean holes through finger thick plates of steel.

One more concern was that her oversized magazines held only sixteen of the massive .50 cartridges, a single miss would hurt.

A whispered curse pulled her from her sombre thoughts and a soft smile pulled at the corners of her lips. Luckily, she wasn’t alone, and all the other weapons of her team were well suited for this terrain.

Although, from the looks of it she wasn’t the only one not entirely comfortable with the state of things. Weiss’ displeasure was completely obvious, even to Ruby. Yang was a harder nut to crack, but Ruby knew her sister well enough to be able to read the tight set of her shoulders and the occasional moment of stillness when she listened to the silent woods around them.

Blake was the only member of the small expedition that seemed unbothered by the unnatural atmosphere of the deep forest. In fact, her entire being had gained a certain feline elegance, that turned every single one of her movements sleek and catlike. Compared to the plodding rest of them, she was a shadow that cut through the undergrowth like a shark would through the sea.

Ruby bit her lip as she watched Neo from the corner of her eye. Her roommate was, for a lack of better words, jumpy. Her head moved from side to side in the uncontrolled manner of someone fearing the echoing footsteps in the dark alley behind them. Her movements were too fast and too abrupt as that she would see any danger, even if it were to stare her right in the face.

Slowly, she slipped her hand into Neo’s and gave it a short squeeze that was answered by an unsettled, shaky smile.

Their hands stayed connected for the rest of the hike, a simple feat easily disguised as an offer of assistance as the trail they forged got more rugged by the minute.

Hours later the springy, pine needle covered floor gave way to a flimsy covering of packed dirt over rugged stone. With the changing ground the trees grew sparse and the undergrowth stunted, until the thorny shrubbery vanished completely, and Ruby could make out a sudden, rocky cliff jutting out of the floor just a hundred meters ahead of them.

Their pace quickened as they hurried along the suddenly easy to navigate trail and only a few moments later the tired, grimy, and slightly thorn-scratched group stepped into bright sunlight.

A smile broadened Ruby’s face as she turned her face towards the sun, glad that they were finally out from under the endless canopy of these damned trees. Though, she was a bit shocked at the low angle of the sun. They had at most another two hours of sunlight left.

She turned around and stepped towards Blake, who had sat down on a low boulder at the foot of the cliff, her water canteen in hand.

“Hey Blake, can we stop for a short break here, or do we have to hurry along?” Ruby pointed her arm back over her shoulder at the sun, hoping that her answer would be a yes. Neo didn’t look so hot anymore, and Weiss was even worse. The two had collapsed to the stony ground just a few steps past the treeline and were, from the look of it, sharing a protein bar the size of a brick that Neo had pulled from her brand-new rucksack.

Neo must have seen her watching, as she broke off a fist-sized chunk from the thing and waved it in her direction, beckoning for her with the glistening hunk of chocolaty goodness. Even her fingers were shiny from the oily residue of the bar, water gathered in Ruby’s mouth and she quickly nodded, but also held up a finger. A minute or so was all she would need to wrap up her talk with Blake.

“Five minutes,” Blake said between gulps of electrolyte laced water, “I want to finish the climb with at least an hour of light left. Otherwise it’s far too dangerous.”

“Climb?” Ruby tilted her head. Didn’t Blake say that the castle was meant to guard the river? If the defenders had to take an hour-long trip the Naga would probably already be on the way back from having pillaged the village.

Blake nodded and gestured up at the cliff with her water bottle. Ruby’s eyes followed the gesture until she had to tilt her head back to see the top of the rugged cliff. Just past the weathered rim of the cliff she could make out the top of a crumbling parapet.

“Uhm,” she hummed, desperately searching for a way up that wouldn’t involve a sheer climb. But she found nothing.

“Do we have to climb?” She asked, her voice a bit higher than normal at the end.

“Only a bit.” Blake said and pointed around the wide curve of the cliff. “It’s not a freestanding rock pillar. It’s more like a ramp, there is a slope on the other side.”

“Good,” Ruby sighed in relieve and was already turning away when Blake relativized her statement with a wiggle of her hand.

“Earthquakes split the ramp apart, so we’ll have to gap some ravines. That’s why I want to finish this before nightfall.”

“And that’s why I schlepped all these ropes.” Yang cut in and plopped down next to Blake, already digging in her pack for something quick to eat.

Ruby turned away and walked over to Neo and Weiss, her backpack and Crescent Rose suddenly weighting her down like a bag of bricks.

Which probably would have been lighter.


	16. Queen of the Castle

“Sooo…” Ruby said with her eyes firmly fixed to the ten, maybe twelve meters wide and a good hundred meters deep ravine. “How are we going to do this?” She looked up and over to Yang, who met her worried expression with an easy grin.

“How would you do it?” Yang asked, an amused grin on her lips.

Ruby tilted her head to the side and chewed on her lower lip, completely lost in thought.

“Maybe Weiss could make us an ice bridge?” Ruby offered after a moment of silence. She had seen Weiss do crazy stuff with her semblance; a bridge didn’t seem out of the realm of possibilities for her.

“Or we could tie a rope to Crescent Rose and throw it over. I think I could wedge my baby between those boulders over there.” She winced at the thought of mistreating her darling like that. But in the end even a beauty like Crescent Rose was just a tool, and not using a tool because it could get scuffed was utterly stupid. Also, the dust-hardened blade could easily take the strain. Weiss and a bit of the secret Schnee formula had seen to that.

The granite probably wouldn’t even scratch the metal.

“Huh, that would probably work.” Yang scrutinized the indicated outcroppings with a critical eye. “But that would mean that you’d be without a weapon for a while.” Her sister poked her into the chest. “Which for you means that you are completely defenceless.” She threw a thumb over her shoulder at Neo, who had stepped precariously close to the edge, eying the craggily floor of the ravine.

“Even Neo could take you down.”

Ruby pouted but didn’t dispute the claim. It was true enough; she was a total failure when it came down to hand to hand combat. Her speed didn’t translate as well into boxing as she would like, half the time she did her opponent’s work for them and ran into their stretched-out fist, leg, or knee at half the speed of sound.

She patted her folded up weapon with an indulging smile. That was why she had designed her weapon as a scythe. It gave her enough reach to dash past her enemies without having to fear that she accidentally skewered herself on a sword or clawed paw. Furthermore, if she managed to hook something with her scythe in her mad fly-bys it was as good as dead.

“So, how are we going to do it then?”

“Easy,” Yang said with a proud smile and pointed at Blake, who was currently in the process of stretching her legs. “Our very own resident kittycat will do it.”

“I told you not to call me that.” Blake said with a blank look. After another second, she let go of her leg and squared up in the middle of the road.

This bit here had weathered the centuries pretty well. Unsurprisingly, really, as the stonemasons had carved it directly from the exposed rock. The only sign of wear were a few cracks here and there and the worn-down edges where entire oceans worth of rainwater had flowed down the steep slope.

“Let’s give her some space.” Yang took Ruby by the arm and guided her to the edge of the road. Ruby watched with bated breath as Blake took two, three deep breaths and then raced off towards the ledge at full tilt. Just as she reached the edge, Blake pushed off into a powerful leap that sent her soaring off into the air.

But even all the impressive strength her legs could muster clearly wasn’t enough. She started to drop like a rock just a bit past the halfway point.

Blake, as calm as ever, focused her aura into her semblance and manifested a shadow clone just below her feet. She made quick use of the hard surface under her feet and kicked off, gaining enough speed to send her all the way across the crevasse.

She landed on nimble feet on the other side of the ravine, turned around and offered half of a bow in response to Ruby’s whooping cries.

“Rope!” Blake called to Yang after Ruby’s cheers had died down. She caught the end of the rope with an easy flourish and tied it high around a nearby boulder. Once it was secure she waved for them to join her on the other side and then took up watch on top of one of the rocky outcroppings, making sure that nothing could sneak up on them while their group was split between the different sides of the ravine.

“You first, Ruby,” Yang said, once she had tied off her end of the rope. “Show them how it’s done.”

Ruby didn’t need any more encouragement than that and quickly took hold of the rope. Without any visible strain she flung her legs over the thick rope and moved hand over hand to the other side. But even in her hurry, she made sure to always leave one knee and hand wrapped around the tightrope, just like Yang had showed her all those years ago.

She wasn’t sure if Weiss or Neo had ever done something like this and she wanted to show them the safest way to do it. Even if it wasn’t the funniest or fastest way.

Also, Yang would probably go all red-eyed if she were to just walk it.

Neo barely needed any encouragement to follow her across and she seemed surprisingly comfortable dangling a hundred meters above a deadly drop. It took her barely ten seconds to cross the gap and she dismounted the rope into an elegant handstand, unbothered by the pack dragging heavily on her shoulders.

Somehow, her shirt slipped during the upside-down position, despite the multiple straps of her pack’s harness, and revealed a toned stomach above a hint of a bright pink sport’s bra.

Ruby froze, her eyes wide and her arms still outstretched in an offer of help Neo clearly didn’t need.

“Show off,” Yang shouted across the ravine, pulling Ruby from her reverie of a champagne commercial she had seen years ago. Thirteen years old Ruby had wondered for months after how they had been allowed to show that much flat stomach during the early evening program. Especially with the guy drinking champagne from it.

She quickly turned away from Neo and looked over to Yang. She smiled, glad to see Yang’s trademark smirk. Maybe there was still hope for the two.

“You next Weiss,” Yang’s words were barely audible on their side. But whatever Weiss answered back wasn’t.

Whatever it had been, Yang wasn’t happy with it and she shook her head, pointing at the rope stretched across the ravine. Weiss stomped her foot and argued some more, but to no avail. Yang simply crossed her arms over her chest and nodded at the rope, leaving no room for argument.

After a heartbeat or two Weiss gave in and reluctantly turned towards the tightrope. She stopped short of the edge and bit her lip, her face a picture of worry. But after a moment she visibly gave herself a push and steeled her features into a mask of grim determination. She quickly grabbed the rope and pulled herself up, throwing her legs over it in one go.

After a moment of hesitation, she started moving hand over hand towards the ledge. Without so much as a glance towards the abyss she crossed the gap, moving a lot slower than Neo and Ruby, but still at a steady pace that saw her on the other end before too long.

Yang followed right behind once Weiss had safely lowered herself to the solid ground on the other side. She was quick, almost as quick as Ruby, and re-joined the group in seconds.

“I still don’t see how this was any better than my runes.” An irate Weiss barked once Yang had dismounted.

Yang gave a tortured sigh, but still answered Weiss’ claim. “How many runes would you have needed? Five, six? More?” She paused to allow for Weiss to nod, then continued, “how much dust and aura would that cost? Hmm? Would you be ready for a fight?”

“It’s not like I’m ready now.” Weiss sneered and shook out her arms theatrically.

“Then it’s about high time that you get some exercise.” Yang smirked and flexed a bulging biceps, “usually the body recovers long before the aura. Especially in someone that is ready to be a huntress.”

She said the last one with a pointed look and then faced the rest of them. “Your aura is your most valuable asset. It is defence, offence, and utility all in one. The same goes for dust, so do not waste it just to save yourself a bit of sweat.”

She turned away and stepped over to Blake, who did an easy flip of her boulder, clearly done with the discussion.

Neo grabbed Ruby’s hand with a big smile and pulled her along behind their leaders. Ruby answered the impish grin with a smile of her own. But before she let herself be dragged along, she shot Weiss a quick, worried glance.

She needn’t have bothered. Weiss didn’t seem enraged or sad by the dressing down she had received from Yang, just thoughtful. After barely a second Weiss nodded to herself and hurried after Yang and Blake.

So, she stopped resisting and let herself, for once, get dragged along by her hand.

“What about the rope?” She asked, once they had caught up to her sister. “Won’t we need it again?”

“No,” Blake shook her head, “this was the worst bit. We can leave it here for once we go back down tomorrow.”

“Oh, good.” Her words were followed by a relieved sigh from Weiss, who clearly didn’t fancy another crossing like that.

Blake’s promise held true and the rest of the climb up to the tall fortress was, not necessarily easy, but also not very hard. Mostly, it was just the steep incline of the road combined with tired legs that caused any trouble at all.

By the time they arrived in front of the towering castle walls they had still plenty of sun left and could admire the massive walls in all their glory. Though, while it had been built to last, the centuries weren’t kind to the fortifications: the walls were crumbling in places and most of the wooden shutters had rotted away long before even their grandparents were born.

Though all of this did little to lessen Ruby’s excitement and she almost dashed ahead. Only a threatening glare from Yang and Neo’s tight grip on her hand reminded her that this was not something a serious Huntress did, which meant that it wasn’t something she would do.

So instead she stayed with the group and trudged along behind Blake, staring longingly at the broken teeth of the battlement, and wondering what treasures were still left in the numerous secret chambers a fabulous castle like this surely contained.

The road led them all the way to the main entrance, a long, dark cobblestone tunnel that pierced through the metres thick walls. The steel forged portcullis was still there and would have barred the way, if it weren’t for the large hole in its middle where the arm-thick, rusty bars were warped until they pointed down the tunnel towards the castle proper.

Ruby paused when it was her turn to step through the hole and leaned in close to the warped metal. Rust had eaten deep into the solid bars, but even so she could read the story of this formidable gate easily.

“Wow, they used Dustamite to blast this gate open.” She said to no one in particular and took a quick step through the hole, so that she could also take a look at the walls inside the gate.

“Question mark.” Neo signed, something she had started to do whenever she wanted a general explanation for something from Ruby. Something that had become necessary so many times since she received the bands that she came to the conclusion that it would be easier and faster to just do that instead of thinking of a proper question with the limited vocabulary she had programmed into the bands.

Ruby pulled her hand back from the metal splinter deeply embedded in the wall, turned around and shot Neo a happy grin. She pretended not to see Yang roll her eyes just outside the portcullis and started in on a quick explanation.

“Normal Fire Dust isn’t strong enough to tear a hole through something as resilient as steel, especially if the steel is laid out in a grid pattern like this.” She pointed at the least damaged part of the portcullis and continued, “So they came up with something better. The mixture is a bit complex, and you need a bunch of chemicals and stuff to make it all work. But the result is really stable and packs a much bigger punch! Boom!” Her shout echoed down the tunnel and made her teammates flinch. They turned around and glared at her, but most of the heat in their stares was lost to the dim light and the rest bounced harmlessly of Ruby’s enthusiasm for all things explosive.

She flung her arms open in an explosive motion that garnered her another annoyed look, this one from Neo, who still held onto her hand.

“So, this hole can’t be older than two centuries; Dustamite wasn’t around before then,” Ruby said with an apologetic smile towards Neo.

“Please tell me that you don’t have access to Dustamite,” Weiss asked, her voice thin and carrying a faint waver. “Please,” she repeated.

“I tried to get the certification,” Ruby pouted, “but they wouldn’t give me one without a reason.” She started walking again, catching up to Blake who had already stepped out onto the plaza in the middle of the castle grounds. “Which is so unfair! Back before the large dust companies you could buy the stuff on every corner store. Do you have any idea what I could do with just a pinch of Dustamite?”

“Yes,” Weiss interjected in a slight pause in Ruby’s rant. “Sadly.” She shuddered.

“I could add a mortar to my baby!” She paused to give said darling a quick pat, “You would like that, wouldn’t you? Yes, you would!”

Weiss didn’t deign that worth an answer and pulled past her into the dwindling light of the dying day.

Ruby’s happy smile fell, but then quickly brightened again at the thumbs-up she received from Neo. At least someone appreciated the thought of raining destruction on a target kilometres away.

“So, what’s the plan?” Weiss asked once Yang had caught up to them. She eyed the buildings ringing the square critically. Non of them besides the main building made a good impression on her. Many of the smaller houses looked about ready to collapse during the next storm or earthquake and the wooden horse stable had large holes in the roof where the supports gave way.

“The manor house is still safe,” Blake answered absentmindedly, her eyes fixed on a wrinkled bit of paper. “The others are off-limits, though.”

She handed it off to Yang and faced the rest of the group.

“First, we’re going to look for an easily defensible room to set up camp in. Then we’re going to rest for a bit before we use the rest of the evening for our search.”

She glanced at Yang, who gave a quick nod, then led the group towards a smaller door to the side of the manor’s showy double doors. From the long, reddish-brown streaks on the stone around the hinges it was clear that the decorated door hadn’t moved in ages and wouldn’t do so ever again.

The side door faired way better, hidden as deep in an alcove as it was it had been protected from most of the weather. So, it yielded easily to Yang’s push.

Behind the door they found a long, drab hallway that was devoid of any furnishing. Though what it lacked in adornments it made good in the countless doors that flanked the tight hallway on either side.

Without any hesitation Yang stepped over the threshold, plodded to the nearest door, and wrenched it open.

“Uhm,” Weiss piped up from the back of the group, “shouldn’t we be a little bit more cautious?”

“Nah,” Yang shook her head, “it would be obvious if a creature of Grimm had made their den here. The place would be trashed.” She waved for them to follow her through the door into the grand entrance hall beyond and pointed at the thick cover of dust that lay undisturbed on the ground. “We’d know if something made its home here.”

“Thief?” An unknown voice suddenly said from the middle of the group, making all of them flinch and twirl around only to find Neo smirking at them.

“God damnit! Can’t you settle on one voice?” Yang barked, but her outburst just served to widen her smug grin.

“Nope.”

Yang shook her head but didn’t try to fight Neo on that point. It was getting darker in the castle by the minute and they had yet to find a place to rest for a while. With that in mind she made a beeline for one of the decorated doors to the side of the wide staircase and opened the door a crack.

A moment later she shook her head again, closed the door and headed for a different one.

“Thieves aren’t an issue either,” Blake said from the threshold of a different door, “there is nothing to steal around here anymore. Everything that wasn’t nailed to the ground has been carried off centuries ago. And the only people that come here make for bad marks… Yang, this one might work.”

She waved for the others to join her by the door opposite the servant entrance, which they quickly did.

The room Blake had found seemed almost cramped in size to Ruby, though that impression probably just stemmed from the two-story high ceiling of the entrance hall.

“Yeah, this should work,” Yang agreed. The room had plenty of space for the five of them, but more importantly it also held another door that led out to the castle proper. She quickly stepped over to it and knocked her fist against the sturdy looking wood. Her heavy-handed knock elicited barely a sound from the steel banded door.

She grinned, “This will do nicely.”

Weiss sighed in relieve and dropped to the floor next to the door, leaning her back heavily against the cold stone wall, already digging in her pack for her dehydrated field ration. She was joined by Neo and Ruby moments later, though the trio didn’t speak as they were much more concerned with their bland dinner than with casual conversation.

“Okay, girls, it’s time to move your butts.” Yang stated an hour later, to the groan of the junior members of the team. “Come on, get up.” She offered a hand to Blake and pulled her to her feet without any visible sign of strain.

“Can’t it wait another five minutes?” Ruby asked and directed her weaponized puppy-dog eyes at Yang. But her older sister was savvy to her tricks and didn’t falter for even a second. Instead, she crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head.

“No.” She stated, voice firm.

“But why?” Ruby wheedled. She knew Yang well enough to know that her efforts were pointless when she was like this, but her whining would buy her friends and her another few precious moments off their hurting legs.

“Because if we don’t start now, we won’t do so in five minutes either.” Yang answered the question, to the surprise of Ruby. “So, come on.” She added and offered her a hand, which she reluctantly took.

“Don’t fret, Ruby,” Blake said as she was pulled to her feet, “ever since Nora, they usually don’t hide these things that well.”

“I’m afraid to ask,” Weiss interrupted her words with a loud, pained groan that she accidentally let slip past her lips as she pulled herself up. “But what did that crazy woman do?”

“Destroyed a historically valuable landmark.” Yang chuckled.

“Why?”

“Because her team wasn’t able to find the cache and she got impatient.” Blake explained with a heavy sigh. “It was a whole thing… You’re just lucky that you weren’t in the huntress course then.” She waved her hand through the air. “But never mind that, we have more important things to do.”

“Jup,” Yang agreed and gestured for them to come close.

“We’re five,” she said, once they had formed up in a huddle, “An awkward number, but I guess we’ll have to make it work.” She sent a dark look Neo’s way, but didn’t do anything further to vent her displeasure at the situation they found themselves in.

“So instead of two groups of two we’ll split up in a group of three,” she gesticulated at herself, Weiss, and Neo, “And a group of two.”

Ruby opened her mouth, ready to interject something, but her words died in her throat the moment Yang’s eyes fell on her. The heated glare was enough to convince her that discussing the team assignments wouldn’t go over to well with her sister.

“We’re going to search for about two hours,” she glanced at Blake who nodded in agreement, then continued, “We’ll start on the second floor, Team Blake will take the west side while we will search the eastern part of the castle. After about an hour we’ll move to the ground floor and continue there. That way we can be sure that nothing is lurking around the place when we settle down to sleep. Any questions?”

Weiss raised her hand, “Yes, I thought you said that there wasn’t anything here…”

Yang nodded, “There probably isn’t, but it’s still a good measure in case that I’m wrong.”

She looked around for a moment, scrutinizing her team. When they didn’t offer any other questions, she clapped her hands, signalling for them to break apart.

“Since you didn’t ask…” Her words held a chiding tone to them, “should you find something dangerous, holler loudly and join up with the rest of the team. Don’t try to fight it alone, understood?”

She turned around and stared at Ruby until she met her gaze and nodded.

“Good. Now then, let’s go hunting.”

After that, the two teams filed out of the coat room and ascended the massive stone stairs in the main hall. At the top, they silently split up and walked down opposing hallways. Just when they were about to turn a corner she glanced back. Her look was met by Neo, who had glanced back at the same time. Neo shot her a wide, encouraging smile and then vanished around the corner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hoped to get more done than just more exposition in this chapter. But work was pretty intense recently and I didn't have the energy to write more than this. Though in the next chapter things should get a bit more action-y.


	17. A Search For Secrets

“I thought there would be more stuff here.” Ruby said with a frown marring her face. She stepped out of the empty room she had just searched and joined up with Blake in the hallway.

“Were you hoping for a souvenir?” Blake smirked and ambled down the hallway to the last pair of doors lining it.

“I… maybe?”

She tried the rusty handle, but it wouldn’t move. “Anything of worth was carried away a long time ago. You’ll have to make do with a bit of crumbling masonry, or maybe a…” Blake pulled back and delivered a powerful and precise kick to the rotten wood next to the handle. Bits of wood flew everywhere as the unlocked door smashed loudly into the wall. “few splinters.”

“Aww,” Ruby moaned, and forced herself through her own door. Barely a moment later she backed out of the room and shook her head. “Nothing.”

“Okay, then,” Blake nodded, expression indifferent, “let’s head down and check in with the others. Maybe they had more luck.”

But when they trundled down the wide stairs to the entrance hall the hands of the other team were just as empty. “Any luck?” Blake asked, garnering three headshakes in response.

“I guess we’ll have to check out the ground floor too,” Yang said with a shrug, then scowled at the junior members of the team, “quit the groaning.”

A beam of light suddenly pierced the twilight that had settled over the castle proper over the last quarter of an hour. The sharply focused light of Yang’s flashlight had little effect on the visibility in the room. It brought about a square meter of bumpy wall into sharp relief, but mostly worked to deepen the shadows encroaching on the small group in the centre of the hall. She quickly twisted the front of the flashlight until the beam lost focus and pushed the darkness back in a wider arc.

“Get your flashlights out.” She ordered the rest of her team. All of them but Blake scrambled for the torches squirreled away deep in their packs. Blake, thanks to her Fae ancestry, could see perfectly well even in near pitch-black darkness. The light would only be a disadvantage if it came down to a fight.

Yang raised a near invisible eyebrow at Neo. “You can’t see in the dark?”

Neo tilted her head to the side, then shook her head a moment later.

Yang sighed. It wasn’t completely unheard of that a Fae couldn’t see in the dark, but it was rather rare. The forests, swamps, and mountains they called their homes were usually pretty remote and fraught with dangers of all kinds. A race that was basically blind for eight hours a day didn’t last long. “There goes my plan to stick you with Blakey.”

She shook her head. “I guess that means we’ll keep the groups the same.”

“I can go by myself.” Blake offered, and recoiled immediately from the force of Yang’s sharp look. “Out of the question.” She all but barked at Blake, “you’ll take Ruby with you.”

Blake flicked her ears but refrained from arguing with Yang. Instead, she waved for Ruby to follow her and stepped lightly through one of the doors leading to the back of the castle. Ruby hurried after her, barely able to track the path Blake’s shadowy form had taken.

With only the measly light of their torches it took them a good while longer to search the numerous, tiny servant quarters, kitchens, rooms, and long winding hallways that connected the warren of chambers.

They only gave up their search because midnight was fast approaching, and they needed some rest before their journey back to the village early next morning. A weary Ruby and Blake were the first to stumble back into the entry hall. They slouched down on the first steps of the wide stairway leading to the second floor and settled in to wait for the others. Ruby leaned back against the crumbling balustrade and rubbed at her smarting knees. A hiss burst from between her lips and she pulled her fingers away, the sticky wetness remained.

“You okay?” Blake asked, her voice low and tired. She barely bothered turning her head.

“Yeah, absolutely.” Ruby hastily wiped the blood off and shot Blake an overly wide grin, “I’m one hundred percent fine! One hundred twenty, even!” She crossed her fingers and hoped that Blake wouldn’t notice the specks of blood that dotted her black pants around her knees. In their night-time search she had stumbled over the broken remnants of a piece of old furniture and fell painfully to her knees, apparently splitting the delicate skin in a few places.

Blake’s ears lost their tired cant and she fully turned around. Her cat-like eyes glinted alien in the weak light of Ruby’s discarded torch.

“I… I mean my knees do hurt a bit,” Ruby run her fingers through the hair at the back of her head, “you know, from all the walking and stuff…” Her faltering words only served to fan Blake’s suspicion. Blake was just about to voice her doubt when one of the doors to the room flew open and Yang walked in, Weiss and Neo in close pursuit.

One look at their hunched over postures was all it took for Ruby to realise that the other search party was as successful as them. They joined her and Blake on the granite stairs with slow, shuffling steps. Neo sat down next to Ruby, leaned into her side, and let out a quite sigh of relief. A tired but happy smile pulled on Ruby’s lips as Neo’s warmth slowly seeped into her side.

“You haven’t found anything either?” Yang asked, sounding like anything but hopeful.

“Nada, zip!” Ruby said, “not even a single measly secret passage. You?”

“Same,” Weiss answered in Yang’s staid, “nothing but rotting wood, dust and dirt.” She sniffed her nose and pointed her torch at her combat skirt. “I’ll never get this clean again,” she muttered.

“As if you even know how to do laundry, princess.” Yang chuckled.

“Hey! You should know that I’m very capable of doing my own laundry. Thank you very much! I’ve been doing so ever since arriving at Beacon.”

“Sure.”

Their squabble was interrupted by a heavy sigh. “I’m too tired for this.” Blake said as she pushed off the hard stone step. She rubbed at her butt until the blood started to flow again, then turned to the rest of the team still sprawled all over the dusty steps.

“Let’s go lie down. We’ve got a lot of distance to cover tomorrow.” Blake didn’t wait for a response before she headed towards their temporary camp in the cramped side room. They remained sitting for a few long seconds, watching Blake go, before Yang pulled herself up on the banister. “Blakey is right. Come on.”

Neo disentangled herself from Ruby and stood up, weighing heavily on Ruby’s shoulder as she did so. Once standing, she offered her a kind smile and a hand, which Ruby accepted both gratefully.

They were just about ready to slump down on their spread-out bedrolls when Yang spoke next, “So… Who takes first watch?” The words brought forth a loud groan from Ruby at the same time as Weiss asked, “You can’t be serious?”

“Time to wake up Rubes,” Yang whispered into her sister’s ear. When that didn’t bear any fruit, she patted Ruby’s cheek softly. That certainly had the desired effect of waking Ruby. She instantly bolted upright and promptly smashed her nose into Yang’s brawny shoulder.

“Ow,” she muttered from between the fingers she had clapped to her reddening nose. “What was that for?” She asked, voice heated.

“Shh,” Yang put a finger to her lips and gestured for her to quiet down. “It’s your turn,” she said and pointed to the slightly ajar door. Ruby eyed the door for a moment, then realised what her sister meant. A nod signalled her sister that she had understood. She slipped her fingers through the folds of her thin bedding until they came alight on the cold, smooth surface of her baby. With Crescent Rose in hand she slipped past Yang out of the room, nodding to her sister in passing, a silent wish for a good night.

Outside in the entry hall, Ruby sat down right next to the door leading to her sleeping companions. Here, she had a good view of all the other doors and the stairs leading to the upper floor. Her only worry was the mezzanine above her, but she was pretty sure that she would hear anyone sneaking around up there, trying to get the jump on her.

As she settled in for her watch, she was really glad that she had drawn the last two hours. Though to be fair drawn wasn’t exactly the right word. Yang and Blake had split the harder middle watches between themselves so that the unaccustomed Ruby and Weiss could get an entire six hours of uninterrupted sleep. Neo hadn’t been called to keep watch as she wasn’t actually a huntress-in-training and could sleep uninterrupted for the entirety of the night.

So, Ruby’s head nearly hit the roof when a hand suddenly appeared on her shoulder.

“What are you doing here?” Ruby asked Neo as she tried to rein in her racing heart.

“Join you,” Neo signed. She sat down next to Ruby, shivering slightly as the cold of the stone wall and floor leeched into her. Without missing a beat Neo slid closer to Ruby and snuggled into her side. “Cold,” she offered for an explanation of her behaviour.

“Okay,” Ruby hummed after a moment of thought. Her left arm was still free to move and her fingers were still clamped around the reassuring hardness of her beloved weapon. It would be fine.

Time ticked by slowly in the stillness of the night. No sound penetrated the thick walls of the castle, leaving them in a complete silence that had Ruby’s neck hairs stand on end from a strange sense of déjà-vu.

“You know…” she said after a while in a weak attempt to shatter the unnerving stillness that had settled over the castle. She paused for a moment, wondering what to say. She hadn’t thought that far ahead.

“I really thought we’d find at least something.”

“Hmm,” Neo hummed and snuggled deeper into her side. Ruby turned her head to watch Neo’s hands, wondering what motion would trigger that sound. It seemed like a strange noise to program while countless others were still missing.

“In the stories Yang read to me castles were always full of mysteries, wonderous treasure chambers, deadly traps, forbidden paths, and secret escape routes that came in handy when the righteous prince had to flee from the evil uncle’s grasp.” Ruby stopped short and tilted her head to the side, staring at the wide stairway leading to the upper floor and the Duke’s rooms beyond.

“Hey, Neo,” she said as an idea took root in her mind.

“Hmm?” Her head twisted back to the friend pressed against her side, but she was too late and had missed the gesture again. Ruby shook her head, no matter, she had more important things to concentrate on. Like why they hadn’t found an emergency exit in a frontline fortress.

“This place probably got attacked plenty of times, right? I mean it is in the middle of a gigantic forest and next to a river that was filled with Naga.” The pressure against her side abated for barely the time it took to take a single breath, just long enough for Neo to offer her a sleepy nod. “Besides the winding road leading down the steep incline on one side there is only a sheer drop down a cliff everywhere else. Don’t you think the lord of the castle would want an additional, safe way out of the fortress, in case of a prolonged siege?”

She felt a pull on her shirt as Neo tilted her head upwards and focused her with those dichromatic eyes of hers. An impish smirk bloomed on her full lips that pushed away the cobwebs that had hung in her eyes until now. A slow, deliberate nod was all the answer she needed.

The rest of her watch was torture. She had wanted to jump up right then, when she had realised their mistake, but her sister’s words stayed her hand. A huntress couldn’t just run off alone, especially not when she was tasked with guarding the rest of her team. And since waking them seemed unfair, as all of them had gotten less sleep than her, she settled for waiting until the full two hours were over. But the moment the timer on her scroll ran out she jumped to her feet, roughly dragging a sleeping Neo with her, and raced into the adjacent room.

She cursed loudly as she stumbled over her bedroll in her haste but managed to recover her footing before she smashed headfirst into her sleeping teammates. She quickly righted herself, took a deep breath and then bellowed with all the force her lungs could provide, “Attention, maggots!”

A shit-eating grin warped her face at the reaction that got from her friends.

Weiss shot up but got tangled in her high-tech survival blanket and fell over on her side. Her struggling form wrapped in the iridescent, white blanket held a certain resemblance to the insect she had called them.

Blake on the other hand managed to get out of her sheets cleanly. She did such a good job in fact, that she was left clinging to the low ceiling, her aura enhanced claws deeply embedded into the timber that formed the ceiling.

Only Yang got up with a semblance of coordination. Though, only because she was already used to Ruby’s and Tai’s shenanigans. She had been woken in similar fashion each birthday and Giving Day. Although back then she hadn’t been likened to creepy crawlies.

“What the fuck, Ruby?” Yang cried and turned on her sister, her eyes blazing with fire. Her stare caught for a moment on Neo, who was hanging of Ruby’s side and then continued on until they met Ruby’s smirk. “There better be a herd of Grimm right behind you.”

“Better,” Ruby grinned, “I think I know where our cache is hidden.”

After a quick breakfast consisting of bone-dry food barely made edible through copious amounts of water, they quickly hurried after Ruby up the stairs and down the first hallway on the left.

“Slow down, Ruby,” Weiss said with so much irritation contained in her voice that it was a wonder that the old wood of the doors lining the hallway didn’t immediately catch fire. “We have already canvassed this area. There is nothing!”

“There has to be,” Ruby said back over her shoulder, her rapid steps didn’t falter for a second. A moment later she threw out a hand, caught a stone that jutted out of the wall especially far and pivoted around the next corner. Three flying steps later found her before the slightly larger door to the lord’s chambers. In her haste she had forgotten all about breaking and slammed right through the middle of the rotten door. Pieces of lacquered wood flew in every direction as she was showered in fine wood dust, the aftermath of a woodworm feeding frenzy.

“Bah,” Ruby spit, trying and failing to get rid of the wood flour that had made it past her lips. She was still in the process of hacking and spitting when the rest of her team stumbled in through the broken door.

“Ruby…” Yang begun her admonition, but her words were drowned out by Weiss.

“See, nothing.” She spread her arms to encompass the entire room. The outer office was as bare as all the other rooms they had visited during their search. A few discoloured spots on the floor were the only evidence that it hadn’t always been like this. Those, and a thick cover of fine ash and thick, black soot in the fireplace.

Ruby hummed and turned her head, looking for something to spark her interest. The castle was old, very old. So, it stood to reason that they didn’t have the mechanical craftsmanship to move an entire section of wall. After a moment of thought she methodically walked the room, stomping her foot ever so often. But the Earth Dust infused planks seemed as solid as ever.

“Look, Rubes,” Yang sighed, “I know that the idea of this castle has you all fired-up, but we are on a bit of a schedule.”

Ruby’s head jerked up and twisted around, focusing on the fireplace in the middle of the wall opposite of the door leading to the bedroom. “Of course!” She exclaimed and raced over to it. Barely a second later she dropped to her knees and combed her fingers through the soft blanket of grey ash, half burnt wood and refuse. She grinned triumphantly as her fingers caught on something cold and hard. She wiped as much of the ash away as she could, revealing a short, bent metal grip protruding from the sidewall of the fireplace. It held a certain similarity to levers used to open the ventilation slots that appeared in modern constructions, but Ruby was sure that this lever held a different purpose as only a moron would place it this close to where the fire was meant to be lit.

She crawled a bit further into the recess, ignoring how the ash tainted the pure black of her pants, until she could prop a hand against the backwall of the fireplace. She had a feeling that she would need all the leverage she could get. The mechanism had to be a rusted mess by now.

Once she felt comfortable in her position, she braced against the wall and pulled with all the considerable might her lithe body held. Her muscles bunched up as her back strained to hold out against the immense strength she put into her action, but still it wouldn’t budge even a bit. After a few seconds of futile pulling she gave up and leaned back on her heels.

“Fuck!” The curse fell from her lips a moment later as she hammered the back of her head against the low lip of the fireplace’s roof.

“What is it?” Weiss asked, straining to see past Ruby.

“I found a lever,” Ruby grumbled and rubbed the back of her hair, smearing the red tips of her raven hair with grey.

“It’s on the right side, right?” Yang asked, taking a step closer trying to see what it was that her sister had found.

“Jup, why?”

“Righty tighty, lefty loosey,” Yang sang in a singsong tone of voice, barely able to suppress her laughter.

Ruby squinted darkly at Yang for a beat, then crawled back into the tight space. She gave her smarting hands a hearty flex and then wrapped them around the thin, vertical steel rod that stood in for a proper handle. She gritted her teeth and pushed. Her lips pulled back in a mad grin as she felt the mechanism give a little. But her happiness died all to soon when the handle got stuck after turning only a few degrees.

She would need a lot more force if she wanted to push through the rust that fused the gears together.

Ruby raised her butt and settled half of her weight onto the tips of her boots, while she directed the other half against the stubborn lever. The flats of her hands stung where they were wrapped around the thin rod, but not so bad that she couldn’t ignore it. With her grin firmly back in place on her face, she braced herself and pushed against the rough wood of the floor. Her heavy boots found excellent traction and allowed her to direct the entire strength of her legs against the stuck mechanism.

The rusted mountings that had held the gearbox firmly in place for centuries didn’t stand a single chance against Ruby’s hardened muscles and gave after only a moment, shattering with the dull crack of old wood. Without the fastenings hidden somewhere deep in the wall, the lever had turned far beyond its normal halting point and now pointed almost straight down.

Ruby yelped in surprise as the fireplace’s floor suddenly vanished from below under her, leaving her dangling above the black maw of a square pit. She watched in fear as the black hole swallowed the ash that had once covered the floor and gulped as it vanished from view after only a few seconds, completely obscured by the darkness misting the tunnel.

A cold and hot sensation spread through her in waves as she noticed her fingers slipping from the reedy thin handhold the broken lever offered. Ruby tried to pull back, but her prone position over the pit made this nigh impossible. Her knees buckled as if she wanted to kneel down, but a sudden fear of the potential nothingness below her knees made her straighten them back out. A whimper drew from her lips as her eyes danced frantically from one corner of the fireplace to another.

Her fretful whimpers ended in a choking sound as the collar of her combat dress tightened around her neck. Relieve spread through her as she felt herself get pulled back by an insistent force that had grabbed a hold of her cape.

Ruby smiled thankfully up at her sister from where she had flopped down onto the hard floor and rubbed tentatively at her sore throat. She wasn’t seriously hurt by that little stunt of hers, but it probably would be a few minutes before she could breath freely again. 

When Yang returned her smile, she moved her eyes from her sister to Weiss and Blake. The pair was standing dangerously close to the dark shaft and shone their flashlights down the secret passage, mumbling quietly between themselves as they tried to deduce the height of the drop.

She avoided looking at Neo who was kneeling next to her as she did so. While Ruby might not hesitate to charge an entire horde of Grimm by herself, the thought of facing the mixture of wrath and utter disappointment that was surely on Neo’s face frightened her to the bone.

“Hmm, we might not fail this assignment after all,” Blake said over her shoulder, the words widening Ruby’s smug grin, “there are handholds embedded into the side of the wall. And from the looks of it the shaft reaches far deeper than just the ground floor.”


	18. Below The Mountain

The long climb down the shaft was a harrowing experience. The absolute darkness in the confined space held a tar-like quality to it and almost seemed to fight the weak light of their torches, yielding only unwillingly to it. Furthermore, the shaft tightened after a few meters until it was barely wide enough for the group to pass through with their small packs strapped to their backs. That combined with the stale air and absolute silence that permeated the escape path instilled a sense of being buried alive to every single one of them.

The sense of disquiet had the strongest grip on Neo, who shuddered slightly as she stretched out a foot to feel for the next handhold.

A few steps below her Ruby sighed as she stepped off the last rung onto solid ground. She wiped her sweaty hands on her short combat skirt and walked closer to Blake, making space for Neo to follow her down onto solid ground. But even as she closed in on Blake, she kept a careful eye on her shivering friend. Concern spread through her as she noticed how jerky Neo’s movements had become. Ruby turned back to Blake and glanced past her, where another shaft led further down into the heart of the cliff.

“How much longer do you think we have to climb?” She glanced over her shoulder and added, “Neo doesn’t look that well.” Her words were almost imperceptible, relying on Blake’s Fae enhanced hearing to pick them up. Neo had reacted surly when she had asked about her state two breakpoints ago and she’d rather not agitate her any further.

“The air smells different.”

Ruby raised an eyebrow and took a sniff of the air herself. Her eyes grew wide as she noticed the pronounced differences for the first time. During their climb, the air had gradually grown drier and staler with each meter. Which was a good thing really. The dry air meant that the steel handholds deeply embedded into the bedrock had barely been touched by rust, unlike the mechanism up top.

But somewhere along the arduous descent the air must have changed without her noticing. It now held a sharp tang to it that Ruby almost experienced as a physical sensation on the tip of her tongue. The tingling feeling seemed familiar to her and she wracked her brain, wondering where she knew it from.

After a moment it came to her. Back at Signal one of her teachers had taken her class on an excursion into the tiny dust mine on Patch. The air in the warren of tunnels had pulsated with the same sort of power, though far weaker than what she was experiencing now.

She worried her lower lip and sidled up to Blake until she could almost see past her down the dark shaft. “Dust?”

“Yes,” Blake agreed, her words wavering from worry.

The dust down there was probably extremely impure, otherwise it wouldn’t still be here, and therefore was most likely stable. But even so, dust mines were fraught with dangers. Creatures were often drawn to the power emanating from the ore and successively corrupted by it, creating vicious monsters that could not be reasoned with. But even if they weren’t about to climb into the lair of a mutated beast, the fine dust in the air made it poisonous to breathe and the dust that had settled on the floor could be extremely volatile.

There were good reasons why it had taken mankind this long to start extracting dust in bulk.

“What kind?” Ruby asked, hoping the answer wouldn’t be fire. That form was one of the most dangerous ones to mine. It could explode on a moment’s notice and the ensuing fireball would be deadly in a confined space. Not to mention that it would consume all the air in seconds, leaving them to suffocate if they managed to survive the blast.

“It’s Earth Dust,” Weiss said confidently as she dropped the last feet to the floor, “at most ten percent purity.”

Ruby turned to her and shot Neo an encouraging smile in the process. “How do you know that?”

“I’m a Schnee.” Weiss gave her a pointed look that lost most of its effect in the dim light of the cramped intermediate floor.

Ruby shrugged her shoulders, conceding the point. Weiss knew her way around dust far better than she did.

“Good,” Blake said and stepped on the first rung, preparing herself to delve into the mine. Earth Dust was good. Nice and stable.

They encountered one more break in the climb before Blake could see a faint light at the end of the seemingly endless tunnel. She hissed for the others to slow down and silently descended the last few handholds. Blake stopped just before she would pass the roof of the room below them and contorted her body until she could slip her head past the rim.

Ruby waited with bated breath for the roar of an ancient dragon or, more likely, a cave bear. When Blake signalled for them to follow after a few moments of silence she let go of the breath she held and followed her teammate into the light.

What she saw sent her heart racing.

The room was surprisingly large, considering that it had been excavated from the middle of a mountain. The ceiling was as high, or maybe even higher, as the one in her apartment and the walls were so far apart that the few items scattered through the room appeared completely lost, like the discarded playthings of a child called for dinner. The surreality of the tableau was only strengthened by the absence of any shadows, as the light seemingly emanated from everywhere at once. An observation that was accurate, as Ruby realised a moment later. Countless small runes were inscribed into thin patches of Earth Dust left on the walls, ceiling and even the floor of the room. The innate energy of the impure dust apparently able to power the feeble light runes for all those years.

Ruby gaped at the impossibility of it, one hand still resting on one of the steel rungs, wondering how the architects of this place had managed it.

She yelped as Neo stepped on her fingers a moment later.

“So… What now?” Ruby mumbled, sucking on her poor fingers. So far none of the scattered items had stuck out to her as being the cache of secret information they were after. Heck, the rusty mining tools scattered around the floor and leaning against the walls looked like they had been here for centuries. And the thin blanket of Earth Dust that had settled on every surface looked completely undisturbed. As far as she could tell, they might just be the first people to set foot down here in a few generations.

Yang hummed, deep in thought. “As I see it, we have two objectives.” She held a pair of fingers into the air. Once she was sure everyone was looking at her she ticked off the first one and said, “Find the cache,” the second finger fell, “and find the exit of the mine. I doubt they carried all the waste rock up there and through the lord’s chambers.”

“There is a faint draft,” Blake offered, stepped back from the bucket of an ancient wheelbarrow and pointed down one of the three paths branching off the room. “If the teachers left a cache here it is probably close to the mine entrance.”

“Agreed,” Yang nodded and gave an easy wave towards the indicated tunnel, “lead the way, kitty-cat.”

As Blake led the way into the mouth of the tunnel, Ruby slid into step next to Neo. Quite glad that the tunnels down here were wide enough for two persons to walk abreast. Although, only if they were as slim as Neo and her, and if they didn’t mind brushing up against each other every now and then. Her body gave off an involuntary shudder as she remembered the mine back on patch. The spaces there were so cramped that even pre-teens had to be careful not to hit their head on an outcropping on the ceiling.

“How are you?” Ruby asked, trying to make herself sound casual, like she just wanted to fend off the oppressive aura of the place with idle banter.

Neo clearly didn’t buy it, if the intense glare and roll of her eyes was any indication.

Though, Ruby didn’t let that dissuade her from her question. Neo was clearly suffering. She was basically plodding along.

Plodding!

Ruby hadn’t seen her doing that since that fateful night when she had invited Neo into her home. Ever since then, Neo’s movements had gained a smooth, almost artistic grace that made normal people look jerky in comparison. It was that grace that made her think of elves whenever she was around Neo.

Her eyes flickered forward, and her gaze clung to Blake’s black garbed form for a moment. It held a certain similarity to the way Blake walked, though it lacked Blake’s predatory quality.

“I’m fine.” Silver eyes met multicoloured ones and Neo shrugged.

Ruby sighed but didn’t try to dig any deeper. Neo clearly wouldn’t be forthcoming with the reason for why this mine affected her so strongly. She’d just have to watch Neo’s back and make sure that they would leave the place as soon as possible.

Unsurprisingly, the mine dug into the foot of the cliff wasn’t overly large and they reached the end of the mineshaft quickly. But to their misfortune the end of the dimly lit hallway was barred by a massive iron gate designed to hold off an entire invasion force. The door was locked by a thick timber that was fraught with dry rot. The ancient wood yielded easily to Yang’s strength, the rusted shut door however did not.

“Argh!” Yang grunted loudly as she threw herself another time against the stained door. Her efforts were only rewarded by an additional dirt-stained impression of the door’s rough surface on her skin. She gave the door a hearty kick, then stepped back and all but growled at the barrier in her way.

Ruby fully expected her sister to charge the door in another futile display of berserker strength. So, she was quite surprised when Yang instead just let out a sigh and turned around, her shoulders sagging. It almost looked like all the simmering rage had drained together with the departure of the air in her lungs.

“Can we blow it?” she asked calmly, throwing a thumb over her shoulder.

“I doubt we have enough Dust,” Ruby answered before she took a step closer to the door and put her hand against the surface. Thoughtfully, she tapped a single nail against the thick patina covering the door. Although it looked a bit like rust, Ruby suspected that it actually was something far more insidious: Loose Earth Dust mixed with years’ worth of powdered stone, a pinch of water and a thin sheen of rust. She knew enough about materials and how they reacted to dust to guess that the mixture was probably a lot more resilient than the iron it covered.

“Perhaps if we had a few sticks of Dustamite…?” she eyed her sister hopefully. But to her dismay Yang just shook her head. She ignored the relieved sighs coming from the rest of their team. Spoilsports!

“Fuck,” Yang groaned, “we don’t have the time to climb all the way back up to the castle, then walk back down and try and find the entrance from the outside.” She leaned against the wall and shook her head. “A camouflaged entrance at that.”

For a moment, the silence fell over the group as all of them desperately sought a solution to this problem that didn’t involve climbing a hundred metre straight up.

That is, all but Weiss. The girl in question instead leaned in close to an especially dark part of the wall. Her expression one of deep confusion.

“What’s up, Weiss?” Ruby asked, doubtful that the random patterns of the stone, or some sort of mould could consume her attention like that. That was usually her own role.

However, Weiss just hummed to herself and pulled out Myrtenaster. Without a second’s hesitation she flicked it over in her hand and rammed the pommel against the wall. To Ruby’s astonishment the weapon didn’t just bounce off the solid stone, as she would have expected, but instead sunk deeply into the rock.

“Yang,” Weiss called. In her excitement she had been a bit loud and the name echoed eerily down the short tunnel.

“What?”

“I think I found something, get over here.”

All of them were quick to follow her call and gathered around her. Yang pushed ahead of the rest and stepped up next to the hole in the wall. She waved for Weiss to pull her sword out of the hole, and when she followed suit bent over and inspected the damage to the seemingly solid wall up close.

A deep hum spilled from her lips as she slid a finger over the exposed, splintered wood just inside the hole. It appeared as if someone had boarded up a side tunnel and then camouflaged the barrier with a thin layer of sheetrock stuck to the wooden base.

After a short moment she straightened back out and waved for Blake, who had hung back a bit and kept a watchful eye on the way they had come from, to join her.

“Blake, see if you can make out what’s on the other side.” Yang said, throwing a thumb towards the breach in the wall.

“Okay.” Yang quickly sidled away so Blake could take her spot. “Can you see something?” she asked after barely a moment, her impatience palpable.

“Not much, there is a bend after only a few metres. Though it does lead in the right direction. Might be another way out.” Blake moved her nose a bit closer to the hole and took a long, audible sniff. “The air smells better. Might even be the source of the draft I noticed earlier.” She nodded towards the massive iron door barring one end of the mineshaft. “That one surely isn’t it. To massive.”

“Could it be coming through cracks of the barrier.” Weiss asked, “The wood is ridiculously brittle in places.” She pointed at a few rock plates that jutted out of the wall at strange angles. “Like there and there.”

“Could be.” Blake admitted, and stepped back from the camouflaged door. “Yang?” she asked, “I think it should be safe enough to break it down.”

The words sparked a grin on Yang’s face and she readily stepped forward. “That’s what I like to hear.” As she moved up to the door, she made a peculiar motion with her arms and her combat bracers instantly unfolded until the barrel reached bast her balled fist. Widening her grin, she pulled back her arm in preparation of delivering a devastating blow. But just when she was ready to unleash her terrible strength upon the poor barrier she paused. Her head snapped around and her gaze focused on the rest of her group, her lilac eyes slivered with angry red.

“Maybe take a few steps back?”

Perhaps it was the barely restrained fury, but the team followed Yang’s command without pause and backed off down the mineshaft. Once they were a good few metres out of the path any possible shrapnel might take, Yang turned back and reclaimed her fighter’s stance. Then, she threw herself against the ages old barrier.

Her leading fist punched through the brittle wood and thin rock as if it were paper. Ripping and tearing a chest sized hole into the wall and stretching the net of rusted wires to their breaking point. The wires held for a moment, then something holding it in place gave with a metallic click.

Her eyes grew wide in fear and she threw herself to the side, her aura surging to the forefront as a yellow sheen on her skin.

However fast her reaction was, the Air Dust igniting on the back of the battered door was faster. Once triggered, the volatile dust lost its solid form and turned into gas. As it did so, it expanded rapidly, tore through the last vestiges of the barrier and turned the shattered rock into deadly shrapnel. The blast wave hit Yang like a runaway train, lifting her hapless form up and sending her flying head over heel against the backwall.

The impact was brutal, powerful enough to crack solid stone. It would have done terrific damage if it weren’t for the nature of Yang’s semblance. So, instead of shattering bone and turning organs to mush it only served to turn her aura into a blazing corona. A coat of bright light that exuded enough heat to ignite the splinters of wood spiralling through the air at once, turning them into a bizarre cloud of fireflies.

The specks of fire bounced of her slumped-over form harmlessly.

“Ugh,” Yang moaned, as the impromptu shower of fire and heated rock finally subsided and pushed herself into a sitting position against the wall.

“Oh god!” Ruby screamed, flying to her side in a cloud of wilting rose petals. “Yang!” She wanted to touch her sister but recoiled at the sizzling heat of her semblance. “Are you badly hurt?”

Yang squeezed her eyes shut for a couple of unbearable moments, then relaxed into a lazy, almost proud grin.

“Nope,” Yang said, popping the ‘P’, “right as rain.” She waved for her to step back, then used the cracked wall to pull herself to her feet. The sound of splintering stone followed her every step of the way, the result of her semblance’s unbridled power.

“I thought you said it was safe?” Yang asked from in between pained moans.

“I said that I couldn’t hear anything.” Blake corrected as she walked up to them and sized Yang up with squinted eyes. “Are you really okay?” She asked, her voice tinged with genuine concern, when she found herself unable to see past the blinding light of the semblance. “And don’t be all Yang about it.” Her feral eyes gained a dangerous glint.

“Yeah. It wa-” a coughing fit interrupted her words. “Yeah, mostly,” she repeated, shyly, once it had died down, “my semblance took the kick without breaking a sweat.” She pushed off the wall and winced, her expression turning bashful as her hand went for her side. “Though... Some of the shrapnel might have scratched me a little.”

Blake made a face, and tried to reach for her, but thought better of it the moment she felt the heat coming from Yang’s still active semblance. “Can you turn it down?”

Yang shook her head, “Nah, I need to blow off some steam first.”

“But not in here!” Weiss screeched from a few metres down the tunnel. “We’re lucky enough as is that the Air Dust didn’t cause a cascade that brought the entire mountain down on us!”

Yang rolled her eyes and sighed when she realised that the others wouldn’t be able to see her expression, “Of course not,” she said instead. Then she pushed past Ruby and Blake into the trapped corridor, her blazing aura lightening her way.

“Come on, guys. Let’s blow this joint.” She paused and threw a disdainful look over her shoulder. “That was a figure of speech.” With that said she faced forwards and limbed deeper into the unknown, ignoring Weiss’ angry exclamation and Ruby’s noise of dismay.

Ruby shot Neo a concerned look but decided that her sister was a more immediate concern and quickly followed behind her. As she stepped over the softly smouldering scraps of the barricade Yang’s passing had set alight, she was quite glad for her heavy combat boots. With them on her feet she didn’t need to worry about the starved flames chewing on the rotten wood, nor about piercing her feet on a bit of rusted wire. So, she could stomp right through them. A faint, childish grin spread over her face as sparks flew in every direction. The brittle wood was almost as good as autumn leaves.

She shook her head, freeing it from the random thought and pressed onwards in a hurry. Yang’s semblance could have worrying effects on her mental state when it was cranked up to the maximum. It usually showed in a drunken giddiness and a sense of invulnerability that made her prone to take stupid risks.

Like trying to headbutt a bear into submission. A bear that was corrupted by Earth Dust. Her steps quickened a bit more, until they were almost a jog.

The tunnel meandered through the solid stone of the mountain for a few dozen metres. The random changes in heading did a number on her sense of direction and made the chase after her sister’s indirect shine a difficult and seemingly endless endeavour. Bumping her hip against an outcropping in the tunnel wall for what felt like the bazillionth time she grumbled something decidedly unkind under her breath and cursed the miners that had dug this tunnel.

Why they couldn’t just have dug a straight tunnel was beyond her.

Not really, she knew that they had just followed the dust vein that had striated this rock at a time. But they could have still done a concerned sister in the far future a favour and walked the extra mile.

Consumed by her brooding thoughts she didn’t notice that the shine of light no longer fled from her and almost ran into the broad and searing hot back of her sister.

“Yang? What’s the hold up?” She asked, concern in her voice. She tried to catch a glimpse past Yang at the thing that had her sister at a dead stop but couldn’t make anything out past the flames streaming from her body.

“You gotta see this Rubes!” Yang said, glancing back at Ruby.

“I would like to… But you are kind of blocking the way.”

“I can’t get closer. I don’t want to burn the papers.” She let out a near silent hum, “let me try something.”

A moment later her sister groaned through gritted teeth and the corona enveloping her body lessened somewhat. Yang had pulled some of the rampant power into her soul, Ruby realised, and quickly used the doused flames to press past Yang. It was still a heated affair, but she managed to sidle past Yang with only a few wilted hairs on her arms.

What she saw beyond the mouth of the tunnel made her pause. There, in a tiny room that was barely more then an alcove stood a knee-high stone altar. The honey coloured rock was beautifully worked, and someone had engraved countless symbols all around the upper rim of the altar. Though the light Yang was shedding was to weak for Ruby to make them out clearly. Also, the layer of candle wax that filled and overlapped many of the symbols didn’t help in making them discernible.

The age yellowed wax came from a multitude of melted candles that ringed the stone surface on three sides. On the ground before the open side, the one facing her, lay the remains of a thin pad that must have fed entire families of various kinds of vermin over the years.

Considering that, the few sheets of papers sitting completely untouched on the middle of the altar came as a bit of a surprise to her.

She googled at them for a long few moments.

“Crazy, right?” Yang asked from behind her.

Ruby bobbed her head and stepped into the room. Her eyes slipped from the impossible papers and roved over the corners of the cramped space. Against one wall of the room she recognised something as the tattered remains of a particular spartan sleeping roll made from leather and high up on the opposite wall she saw a rectangular hole that seemed to be a bit brighter lit than the rest of the room. From the looks of it she guessed that it was dimensioned big enough for a grown man to squeeze through, though with some slight difficulty.

“What’s the hold up?” Weiss asked from behind Yang, “is it another dead end?”

“See for yourself, princess,” Yang said and doused her flames again, wincing in pain as she did so.

“Huh, this is different.” Weiss squirmed past Yang, offering some choice words in the process and joined Ruby in front of the altar. She pointed a manicured fingernail at the dust free papers and asked, “are those the cache we’re looking for?”

“No idea,” Ruby shrugged, “haven’t had time to look at them yet. I was more concerned with our way out.”

When Weiss looked at her in confusion Ruby nodded at the vent-like hole just below the ceiling.

“What?” Weiss asked, a consternated look on her face, “you want us to crawl through that.” Her eyes dropped involuntarily to her white combat skirt.

“Yes, princess.” Yang said, her gleeful grin an audible part of her voice.

“Ugh,” Weiss groaned miserably.

Though, her misery garnered her no pity from Blake who stepped into the room behind her. As the girl was too preoccupied with helping Neo walk.

“Neo!” Ruby screeched and dashed to her side, her hands hovering impotently over Neo’s shoulders.

“Fine,” Neo signed and tried to pull free from Blake’s strong grip. Her feeble attempts were fended off easily.

“What happened?” Ruby wanted to know, her voice sounding painfully shrill in the small room.

“I don’t know. She suddenly started staggering. I barely managed to catch her before she fell over.”

“Is it dust poisoning?” Weiss asked concerned and pushed Ruby to the side. Taking her place, she laid a hand on Neo’s shoulder and concentrated. A white shimmer appeared between her splayed fingers that intermingled with dancing, pink sparks.

After a moment, the lights vanished, and Weiss let out a faint but audible sigh. “Her aura is fine. Whatever it is, it isn’t physical.”

“Are you sure?” Ruby asked, wringing her hands in fear.

“Yes,” Weiss nodded her head firmly. She might not be the best aura healer in existence, but she knew her stuff well enough to be able to rule out any acute physical issues.

“But… but what is it then?” Ruby wanted to know, awfully close to tears.

Weiss hummed and came face to face with Neo, taking in her pale countenance and frantic breathing. “Might be a panic attack.”

“How would you know?”

“Uhm… That’s personal. But… ah, trust me. I know.”

“What triggered it?” Blake asked.

“Why would I know that? Ask Ruby, she knows Neo better than me.”

“It… it might be darkness.” Ruby offered haltingly and almost immediately shook her head. Neo never had showed any issue with the darkness. So, she hazarded another, more likely guess. “Maybe she is claustrophobic?”

“And she didn’t say anything about that? Grand…” Yang made a face that earned her an outraged glare from Ruby. “What? Rubes?” She speared an accusing finger at Neo. “Possessing a petrifying fear and not warning your team about it? I mean really?”

When Ruby’s glare only grew in strength, she shook her head. “Let’s grab the papers and get out of this shithole. Weiss?”

“Yes, I’m on it.” Weiss let go of Neo’s shoulder and headed for the altar, pulling a thin protective case from her runner’s pack. At the altar, she straightened her gloves and carefully collected the ancient papers. She paused mid motion; her eyes shrouded by confusion.

“Uhm, girls, I don’t think this is what we’re here for.”

“What?”

“It’s some sort of journal.” Weiss said, her eyes racing from left to right. “Listen to this:” her words took on a strange cadence, like she was about to hold an address to the nation.

“30th April 659th year of Darkness. Today we cleansed this castle of the tainted. Tomorrow we will do the same for the vast forests around here. And although this daunting task stands before us, I find myself unable to rest. Thoughts of hate course through my veins and keep my mind sharp and far from sleep. Hate for those wretched creatures that have forsaken their immortal souls by welcoming the darkness into their innermost essence. Hate that I should not feel. For the light does not hate. It pities and cleanses but does not hate. And still, here I lay with fury in my heart and hate on my mind.”

Weiss finger hovered over the page, bare millimetres from touching the ancient paper, following along word by word. It slid to the next entry, but before she could read it out loud Ruby fell into her words.

“As disturbingly interesting as that all sounds, can we maybe read it when we’re out of here?” Her words held a hard edge to them that made Weiss perk up and stare at her. Steeled, unflinching silver eyes met hers, promising bodily harm of the kind her sister usually dished out.

“Uhm, sure.” Weiss said disconcerted, and carefully slipped the papers into her case. Zipping it shut, she asked, “are we still going to try the vent?”

“No!” Ruby was quick to answer, gently cradling Neo in her arms.

“Yes.” Yang said, voice resolute. “Don’t look at me like that, Rubes.” She admonished her sister. She bobbed her head at Neo, who could barely hold herself up, even with Ruby’s help. “Do you want to carry her up that endless shaft? Tie her to your back so she doesn’t slip?” Blonde, glowing tresses flew in every direction as she shook her head. “The vent is probably pretty short. This isn’t one of the SDC mines with a fancy automated ventilation system. I’d rather drag her through that than all the way back up to the castle.”

Yang crossed her arms in front of her chest and fixed Ruby with an expectant glare, ready to fight her sister on this. But to everyone’s surprise Ruby didn’t rise to the occasion. Instead she just grumbled something unintelligible under her breath and nodded.

At this point she just wanted to get out of here.

A sigh of relieve slipped from Yang’s lips. Turning to Blake, she signalled for her partner to go check the vent. Blake followed the command quickly and grabbed the ledge of the rectangular hole, pulling herself up with ease, she scanned the tunnel for a few moments than let herself drop to the ground.

“Looks doable,” she said with a weak smile, “it’s only about two metres. Though, there is a drop at the end. Looks like the vent is hidden behind an overhang.” Her smile slipped from her face as she spoke her next words, “but there is a little complication… There are spikes pointing outwards all around the shaft.”

“So, it’s a one-way-street?”

Blake nodded.

“Okay, we can work with that. Blake, you lead the way. Neo will follow you and then comes Weiss.”

Ruby opened her mouth to interject something but was cut off by Yang raising a hand.

“Rubes, don’t argue with me on that.” She pointed a glowing hand at Blake and explained, “Blakey here is the most flexible of us. She can make sure the drop is safe, and if necessary, she can pull Neo behind her using her ribbon.” Next, her finger slipped to Weiss. “The princess can push her ahead with her semblance, right?”

Weiss nodded, though the expression on her face didn’t instil a lot of confidence in Ruby.

“You,” Yang pointed at Ruby, “are needed to help Weiss lift her up to the vent. As I, obviously, can’t do that right now. Do you see the logic in my plan?”

Although it galled her, she had to admit that her sister’s plan had merit. Even though the tone Yang used with her made her want to poke a hole in it. She hated it when Yang fell back to the ways she had talked to teen Ruby when she had laid down the law.

But while she hated that, the shivering Neo in her arms was far more important than wounded pride. So, she gritted her teeth and nodded.

“Good. Let’s get on with it then.”

With the combined efforts of Blake, Ruby and Weiss they managed to slide Neo into the gap with little difficulty. Though the whole process seemed to play a number on her. She didn’t scream or struggle, as Ruby had quietly feared, but became even less responsive. By the time Blake started pulling from the other side Neo seemed little more than a broken puppet, her skin pale and her entire body limp.

She fretted as Neo’s booted feet were swallowed by darkness and had to fight not to push Weiss out of the way so that she could follow her into the tight space. Still, though, she somehow managed to hold on to her patience long enough for Weiss to pull herself up into the vent and halfway through before she herself reached for the rim.

Sliding through the low gap was uncomfortable, to say the least, and she almost hurt herself on the sharpened spikes when she tried to use them to pull herself through faster. But after a long few seconds she reached the end of the short tunnel and dropped headfirst into the light of the new day.

Something caught her midway to the rock littered floor and softly deposited her on the uneven ground. “Thanks,” Ruby said as the glyph vanished and quickly sat up, her eyes scanning for Neo. She sighed in relieve at seeing her propped up against a large boulder a few metres away from the hole, her eyes open and at least somewhat alert.

The air blurred around her as she stormed over to her friend and loose rock sprayed as she came to an abrupt halt before her. Dropping to her knees, she reached out for Neo and asked, “are you alright?” To which Neo simply waggled her head in answer.

Once Yang had joined them, Weiss held out her case, waving it through the air. “Can we get back to this now? I really think you should hear this.”

“Yes,” Ruby said, absentmindedly. Story time would give Neo a few more minutes to recover before they headed back.

“Okay,” Yang said, looking at Blake who just shrugged unenthused. Listening to some random zealot’s though process wasn’t high on her list of fun things to do.

“Excellent,” Weiss unzipped her case and pulled out the ancient diary. “Where was I,” she whispered under her breath, her finger sliding over the page. “Ah, here:” she cleared her throat and began to read out loud again.

“2nd May 659th year of Darkness. Our righteous work is slow going. The vile creatures have entrenched themselves deeply in the woods. Their traps and bows and horrible dark spells have cost many faithful their lives. Moral is waning in the face of such evil, and the men are less willing walk between the trees each passing day. And, although it pains me, I can understand them. We have brought the light to so many of these dark places, and still, the favour of the Gods escapes us. Though we can not give up now. I will not permit it. Not with salvation as close as it is.”

Weiss paused for a moment as she moved to the next page, then she started back up again.

“5th May 659th year of Darkness. Over the last few days, a though has worried at my mind. A worry about the hate that should not be. What if the reason for the Gods not revealing themselves to us is that we ourselves are tainted? What if these insidious creatures have infected us with their filth? The thought bears not thinking!”

“Wow, what a shit head,” Yang interjected. “Jup,” Blake agreed.

“6th May 659th year of Darkness. Now that I’m watching, I see the darkness everywhere in our own ranks. Greed, malice and hate defile my brethren’s thoughts and words.”

“11th May 659th year of Darkness. The fifth column has joined us here, and with them they have brought Dust extracted from the creatures they have slain along the way. We now have enough Fire Dust to cleanse their dark warrens for good.”

“13th May 659th year of Darkness. Blessed be this day. Blessed! Today, as I walked through the ashes of our enemies, I was granted a wonderous vision, a short glimpse of the Gods! They have explained everything. Now I know what needs to be done. Rejoice my brethren, for salvation is nigh!”

“Sounds like that dude took a bad hit of something,” Yang mocked, “probably ate a bad mushroom.” An awkward silence fell over the group in the wake of her jest, and Blake glowered at her. “What?” Yang asked defensively.

“Not the time.” Blake said, shaking her head.

“Oh co-”

A sudden, immensely loud howl rent the silence of the woods around them. The lonely lament rung out for a long few heartbeats, then was suddenly joined by more and more violent voices tearing from powerful throats all around them.

The blood in Ruby’s veins froze at hearing the familiar sound.

A moment later Weiss voiced her racing thoughts in a fearful shout. “Grimm!”

And a lot of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Took a while, sorry... Though it is a tad bit longer than usual. Also, one more chapter and we should be out of the woods.


End file.
